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Last week, Samsung released its October security update for the Galaxy Tab S7 and Galaxy Tab S8 series. The initial rollout only covered the tablets in international markets. The company has now expanded its coverage to the US as well.
Galaxy Tab S7 and Tab S8 get Samsung’s October update in the US
Samsung appears to be pushing the October SMR (Security Maintenance Release) to both Wi-Fi and 5G models of the Galaxy Tab S7, Galaxy Tab S7+, Galaxy Tab S8, Galaxy Tab S8+, and Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra in the US. The updated firmware build number for the two 2020 models ends with DWJ2. That for the 2022 models ends with BWJ1.
Regardless of the build number, the latest update for the past two generations of Samsung’s flagship Android tablets has the same changelog. And don’t get excited, there’s nothing major here. The Korean firm is only pushing this month’s security fixes to the devices. “The security of your device has been improved,” the changelog states. You aren’t getting any new features or functional improvements.
Samsung published the content of the October SMR early this month. The latest security release contains fixes for 46 vulnerabilities, at least two of which are critical security flaws. As usual, we are talking about the combined total of Android OS issues and Samsung-specific issues across the entire Galaxy family. The Galaxy Tab S7 and Galaxy Tab S8 lineups certainly aren’t affected by them all.
Nonetheless, installing the latest update will safeguard your tablet from all the security vulnerabilities present in it. You should get a notification when Samsung’s OTA (over-the-air) rollout reaches your Galaxy Tab S7 or Galaxy Tab S8 unit. You can also manually check for updates from the Settings app. Go to the Software update menu and tap on Download and install to check if you have an update pending download.
Only the Galaxy Tab S8 will get Android 14
Samsung is expected to release the stable Android 14 update with One UI 6.0 for Galaxy devices later this month. The Galaxy S23 series will get it first, followed by other models. Unfortunately, the new Android version won’t make it into the Galaxy Tab S7 series.
The 2020 flagship tablets arrive with Android 10 and have already received the promised three major Android OS updates, i.e. Android 11, Android 12, and Android 13. The Galaxy Tab S8 series, on the other hand, came with Android 12 and is eligible for four major Android upgrades. So it will get updates until Android 16. Stay tuned for more information about Samsung’s stable Android 14 rollout.