Samsung updates its budget Galaxy M21 to Android 11 with One UI 3.1

The update will update Samsung’s skin One UI to version 3.1, but it will still be the lighter ‘Core’ version.

Samsung Galaxy M21 (Hindustan Times)

Android device manufacturers have been slow as usual with rolling out the Android 11 update this year, with the notable exception of Samsung and Xiaomi, which have quickly rolled out the update to a number of their devices. Samsung has just pushed updates to yet another budget device – the Galaxy M21.

As reported by SamMobile, the Samsung Galaxy M21 is now receiving an update to Android 11 in the country. The firmware can be identified by the version M215FXXU2BUC8 and must be downloaded over Wi-Fi as it weighs in at 960MB. The update will bring Samsung's skin One UI to version 3.1, but it will still be the lighter ‘Core' version. However, it should still have most of the interesting features that came with the One UI 3 update and with Android 11, such as one-time permissions, scoped storage, conversation notification grouping and much more.

In addition to the Galaxy M21, Phone Arena reports that the Galaxy A21s, a device that was not expected to receive the update for a while, has now been upgraded to Android 11 in South Korea with version A217NKSU5CUC7 – this build, unlike the Galaxy M21's version, has the full One UI 3.0 software feature list. Another device that was one of the most popular around the world last year, the Galaxy A51, is now being upgraded to Android 11 and One UI 3.1.

Samsung continues to remain the only Android manufacturer that promises four years of software support (two years operating system upgrades and two years of security patches afterward) for its budget and lower midrange devices. Some of the company's A-series devices (like the Galaxy A71) and its S and Note series devices get three Android version updates and one additional year of security updates.