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Help Should I be getting Android 12 by now? (UK)

King Mustard

Well-Known Member
Dec 3, 2010
179
18
United Kingdom
I bought a used Galaxy S21 Ultra from SmartFoneStore.

Settings > About phone > Software information tells me I'm running One UI v3.1 (Android 11).

Settings > Software update > Download and install tells me:

Your software is up to date.

Current version: G998BXXU3AUDA / G998BOXM3AUDA / G998BXX3AUDA
Security patch level: 1 May 2021

That all seems rather out of date?

EDIT: Ironass on the Android Central forums has discovered the issue. (link)

Just as I thought, this device was originally on European code LUX for Luxembourg and has been re-flashed by a re-seller with a generic engineering firmware, G998BXXU3AUDA, which was never released for the stock Samsung, U.K. models on CSC code BTU, or Luxembourg for that matter.

I have come across this on a number of other forums and you will never receive an OTA, (Over The Air), update on this device with such a CSC code mismatch as it is not recognised by Samsung.

You can no longer change your device's CSC code by using sites such as SamKey.

You therefore have 2 choices...

  • 1. Download and update the latest U.K. firmware manually, using Odin. This will need to be done each time there is a U.K. update.
  • 2. Return your phone to SmartPhoneStore (UK) and demand a refund.
 
Last edited:
Android 11 is still actively supported by Google and you've received the latest monthly security patch so it doesn't appear to be a matter where your phone is 'rather out of date'.
Personally I'd focus more on continuing to receive those security updates than a version upgrade, but if you prefer to always be running the latest version you might want to try and manually instigate upgrading to 12 using Samsung's Smart Switch utility:
https://www.androidcentral.com/how-update-your-samsung-phone-smart-switch

Just keep in mind there may be a specific reason as to why you haven't gotten the 12 upgrade yet. It's a good practice to have Smart Switch installed anyway so you can use it to make backups of your phone's user account. You should be backing up regularly anyway no matter what, but especially just before you do something like upgrade your phone to newer OS version. Backups are important.
 
Upvote 0
Ironass on the Android Central forums has discovered the issue. (link)

Just as I thought, this device was originally on European code LUX for Luxembourg and has been re-flashed by a re-seller with a generic engineering firmware, G998BXXU3AUDA, which was never released for the stock Samsung, U.K. models on CSC code BTU, or Luxembourg for that matter.

I have come across this on a number of other forums and you will never receive an OTA, (Over The Air), update on this device with such a CSC code mismatch as it is not recognised by Samsung.

You can no longer change your device's CSC code by using sites such as SamKey.

You therefore have 2 choices...

  • 1. Download and update the latest U.K. firmware manually, using Odin. This will need to be done each time there is a U.K. update.
  • 2. Return your phone to SmartPhoneStore (UK) and demand a refund.
 
Upvote 0

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