Android 13 will soon be widely available on last year’s flagships in the US
Since early August, Samsung has been releasing its One UI 5 skin based on Android 13 to its wide range of eligible smartphones. The rollout began with the Galaxy S22 series in beta, with the stable release reaching customers worldwide late last month. Now, that stable One UI 5 build is arriving on Samsung flagships from last year, namely the Galaxy S21 series.
Samsung gave the Galaxy S21 series a taste of One UI 5 in beta right after the current-gen flagships, so it is only natural the stable version follows a similar pattern. Earlier this month, Samsung got the ball rolling by releasing One UI 5 for the S21 series in Spain, the UK, and Germany. Now, a wider rollout has begun, helping the update make its way stateside.
Verizon has announced the One UI 5 update for all three Galaxy S21 models — the Galaxy S21, S21 Plus, and S21 Ultra, complete with support documentation. The update bumps the device security patch to October 2022 and packs all the ensconced Android 13 goodness. Verizon recommends ensuring your phone is adequately charged and connected to a Wi-Fi network before initiating the update, because the download size could be large, and the process could take some time. You can also install the update if you have a T-Mobile line.
Besides the Android system update, One UI 5 is loaded with features Galaxy S21 series users can look forward to, like new color palettes for the Material You dynamic theming we all love, a slightly improved notification panel, new app icons, updated Good Lock modules, and a lot of other personalization and productivity features.
