You can save up to 44% on the Samsung 970 Evo Plus and 980 Pro SSDs

It’s a great time to be looking for a new SSD. Samsung’s two most popular M.2 NVMe SSD solutions are now available for a lower price through Amazon, giving customers the option to save more than $200 on 2TB of storage or pick other similar offers.

Both the Samsung 970 Evo Plus and the 980 Pro are now available for lower-than-standard prices. The 980 Pro benefits from a discount of 10%-22%, so the 500GB/1TB/2TB models are now available for $119/$180/$362.

Meanwhile, Samsung 970 Evo Plus customers can save a whopping 44% on the 2TB model, dropping the price from $499 all the way down to $280. The 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB models are also available at discounts of 7%, 38%, and 43%, respectively.

Customers might be getting the refreshed 970 Evo Plus

As some of you may have heard last week, Samsung quietly revised the 970 Evo Plus — presumably due to global semiconductor shortages — by giving it the same controller found on the newer 980 Pro. This change appears to have beneficial side-effects outside of benchmarks, though the newer refresh also seems to be running hotter.

Since the refreshed model wasn’t advertised, it’s not easy to differentiate between the original 970 Evo Plus and the new. However, judging by the MZ-V7S1T0B model number listed at Amazon, the retailer appears to be selling the refreshed Samsung SSD model featuring the newer Elpis controller.

• Buy the Samsung 970 Evo Plus at Amazon
• Buy the Samsung 980 Pro at Amazon

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American Express is ending support for Samsung Pay in India

Samsung Pay was launched in India four years ago with support for credit cards and debit cards from various banks and financial institutions. American Express was among those banks that brought Samsung Pay support in the first phase. However, the bank has now announced that it will end Samsung Pay support in the country.

American Express has sent emails to its customers announcing that Samsung Pay will no longer be available on its cards starting October 1, 2021. If you are a Samsung Pay user with an AMEX card, you can continue using it till September 30, 2021. This makes American Express the first bank to end Samsung Pay support in India. The bank hasn’t explained why it is taking this step.

With NFC-based payment support expanding rapidly in India and around the world, Samsung has started removing MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) from its smartphones. The Galaxy S21 series lacks MST in some countries, including India and the US. The company has also revealed that its future smartphones won’t have MST.

In India, mobile payments have seen a huge jump, especially since the demonetization and COVID-19 pandemic. However, most people use mobile payments through BHIM UPI, Google Pay, Paytm, or PhonePe. Samsung Pay supports BHIM UPI payments as well.

If you are a Samsung Pay user in India, how often do you use the service? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Samsung was far from India’s most relevant wearable brand in Q2

The wearable market in India is growing, and Q2 was a successful period for the segment, with both the earwear and the wrist wearable segments experiencing massive year-on-year growth. Samsung, unfortunately, isn’t the most dominant brand in India, and the company lost a lot of ground in the earwear segment compared to a year ago.

According to the latest market tracker from IDC, by the end of Q2 2021, India’s wearable market grew 118.2% year-on-year in terms of shipments. Smartwatches are the fastest-growing category with a whopping 469.1% YoY increase, followed by earwear with a 113.1% increase. The wrist band market declined 28.9% YoY.

Samsung is lagging behind its competitors in India

The top 5 smartwatch companies in India in Q2 2021 were Nexxbase, Imagine Marketing, Huami, Fire-Boltt, and Realme. Unfortunately, Samsung couldn’t capture 4.7% or more of the market in Q2 to replace Realme, so it didn’t make it into the top 5 list. Similarly, the three most successful wristband companies were Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Titan.

Fortunately, Samsung was the third-largest earwear brand in India in Q2 2021, though the tracker includes devices from Samsung Electronics as well as Samsung-owned brands like JBL, Harman Kardon, and Infinity. Even so, the Korean tech giant’s earwear market share in Q2 sat at 7.9%, down from 30.4% a year before, but at least it was large enough to secure a podium finish.

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Carrier-locked Galaxy A21 picks up the August 2021 security update

While the September security update already started deploying earlier today, a number of active Samsung devices are still in the process of getting this month’s patch level. The Galaxy A21 is one of those, having just started receiving the August 1st, 2021 update in the United States. The new firmware is targeting the carrier-locked variants of the device and can be identified by release version A215USQS5AUG6.

If you’re eager to get your hands on the new firmware, try forcing a download manually by going to Settings > Software update > Download and install. If that doesn’t work, our firmware archives stand ready at your disposal. Assuming you’re willing and able to flash the software to your Galaxy A21 on your own.

The Galaxy A21 is still waiting for Android 11

Despite releasing over a year ago, the Galaxy A21 is still running One UI 2.0 based on Android 10. Unfortunately, today’s update brings no news on this front. But seeing how the older Galaxy A20 is already receiving the latest Android release as of last week, it stands to reason the newer generation of Samsung’s entry-level devices will soon follow suit.

In the meantime, make sure to verify you’re running the latest security patch level by following the aforementioned installation instructions. And fingers crossed the Galaxy A21 picks up pace as far as major firmware releases are concerned moving forward. Looking at the bigger picture, the device is currently more of an outlier than anything else. Because Samsung’s recent software support efforts have otherwise been near-spotless across every price segment.

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Samsung is bringing two more affordable 5G Galaxy phones to South Korea

Samsung’s new Galaxy A52s 5G refresh is reportedly on its way to becoming available in South Korea soon. Local media reports that the Galaxy A52s 5G will be going on sale in Korea on September 3. It will be available through Samsung’s online store and retail partners, as well as the country’s three main mobile carriers: KT, SK Telecom, and LG U+.

The Galaxy A52s 5G will reportedly go on sale in South Korea for 599,500 won ($514), though it’s unclear if the price corresponds to the 6GB or 8GB model. Either way, the Galaxy A52s 5G and Galaxy A52 5G are essentially the same, except the refreshed model has a more powerful Snapdragon 778G chipset and replaces the blue color with mint green.

The Galaxy A22 5G is also coming to South Korea

The Galaxy A52s isn’t the only new 5G smartphone planned for release in South Korea, and according to the latest news, customers who might be looking for a heaper 5G solution will soon be able to pick the Galaxy A22 5G instead.

ET News reports that the Galaxy A22 5G will become available in South Korea disguised as the Galaxy Buddy — a name that leaked before. The Galaxy Buddy will be sold exclusively through LG U+, and prospective buyers will be looking at a 200,000 won ($171) price tag for the unlocked model.

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Galaxy S20 FE 5G getting the September 2021 security update as well

Even though September hasn’t started yet, Samsung has already started releasing the September 2021 security update. After releasing it to the Snapdragon version of the Galaxy S20 FE 4G, the South Korean firm has rolled it out to the Galaxy S20 FE 5G in various European markets.

The new security update is rolling out to the Galaxy S20 FE 5G in Austria, Italy, Luxembourg, Nordic countries, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland, the Baltic region, and the Czech Republic. It has firmware version G781BXXU4CUH5 and features the September 2021 security patch. Samsung is yet to detail which vulnerabilities it has fixed with its latest security patch. The official changelog mentions device stability and security improvements.

If you are a Galaxy S20 FE 5G user in any of the countries mentioned above, you can check for the new update by navigating to Settings » Software update and clicking on Download and install. Alternatively, you can also download the entire firmware file from our firmware database and flash it manually using a Windows computer.

Samsung had launched the Galaxy S20 FE 5G last year with Android 10-based One UI 2.5. The device received the Android 11-based One UI 3.0 update in December 2020 and the One UI 3.1 update in February 2021.

Thanks for the screenshot, Mohamed Hamdan!

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Use Samsung Pay on your Galaxy Z Flip 3, get cool points

I uninstalled Samsung Pay a few months back when it came to light that Samsung is doing away with MST support on newer flagships, which means you can only use Samsung Pay with NFC-enabled payment terminals and card readers these days. While reviewing the Galaxy Z Flip 3, however, I set up Samsung Pay again, and boy am I in love with how cool it feels to make payments with it.

Thanks to the larger cover display on the Galaxy Z Flip 3, you can use Samsung Pay without unfolding the phone. As long as you’ve set up a fingerprint on the phone, you just need to swipe up on the cover display to bring up the Samsung Pay widget, tap the power button to start payment mode, and place the phone against the NFC-enabled card reader or payment terminal. It might not sound very special, but in my experience using the Z Flip 3 to make payments in recent days, I’ve seen a lot of heads turning.

And that’s down to the fact that people see a small shiny square little device being used to make those payments instead of a card or a regular phone. Some people know foldables are a thing, but there are many who aren’t that aware, at least here in India. I’ve had a few people ask me what device I’m using, including the cashiers at the places where I made the purchases, and I’ve been happy to tell them all about it.

It actually reminds me of that Samsung advertisement that cheekily talks about how the Galaxy Z Fold 2 ruined a customer’s life because everywhere they go they garner more attention than they would like. But it’s not about the attention – it just feels awesome when I use the Z Flip 3 to pay because of how quick and easy the process is.

If you’re picking up a Galaxy Z Flip 3 or already own one and have used Samsung Pay through the cover display, you probably know what I’m talking about. Samsung Pay may not be as awesome as it used to be thanks to the cutting down of functionality (MST support, reward points), but the Z Flip 3 has given me a whole new appreciation for the app and got me using it again.

What about you?

Galaxy Z Flip 3 review

• Buy Galaxy Z Flip 3 from Samsung

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