Phone not updating to one ui 7

[Phone21s]

I have an s24 ultra that I bought from America that I am using in the UK, I have not had any updates since I bought it and I am on one ui 6.1, when I check for update it says that I am up to date. Is this a region lock problem or something else?

[arianwen27]

Using a phone in a country it wasn't made for breaks updates. American phone in the uk will always have update problems.

For solutions, I believe you can buy a cheap pay as you go american sim card, put it in your phone once a month to update. I've seen that work in the past

[johnz237]

Hi! Welcome to the Samsung Members community!

You've identified the issue already—Samsung phones are region locked. An incorrect region can cause issues down the line with many things, one being updates.

As mentioned, you can try using an American SIM to update.

You could also try updating via Smart Switch on PC.

[Masid]

Region Lock, this is something new for me. Region lock why???. If someone shifted to other regions why he needs his old Sim to update his phone. It's fine if he waits for update to be released in that region but region lock. When Apple releases it's update it's open to all regions and compatible phones on the same day and time.

[johnz237]

Apple doesnt have a region lock at all thats right.

According to google
The primary reason for regional locks is to control where Samsung phones are initially sold and used. This helps prevent the practice of "grey imports," where phones are bought in one region and resold at a higher price in another.

[Masid]

Fair enough, but the grey imports is only for Samsung. For example before ZF7 there is a ZFOLD SE which is sold in Korea and China and FOLD SE is as good as ZF7. Those who got FOLD SE before ZF7 will not get benefits of software upgrades. That's unfair i think.