It’s the first update since November 5, but it’s a small one.

Enlarge/ The iPhone 12 mini. iOS 14.2.1 fixes an issue that affected the lock screen on this phone.
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Yesterday, Apple released iOS 14.2.1 to fix bugs users have encountered on new iPhones since iOS 14.2 launched on November 5. Unlike many other iOS releases, this release was not accompanied by updates to all of the company’s other operating systems.
The update fixes a bug that caused an unresponsive lock screen specifically on the iPhone 12 mini, and it addressed an issue that prevented MMS messages from coming in. Further, 14.2.1 fixes a problem with sound quality on connected hearing devices.Here are Apple’s release notes for iOS 14.2.1:
iOS 14.2.1 addresses the following issues for your iPhone:

  • Some MMS messages may not be received
  • Made for iPhone hearing devices could have sound quality issues when listening to audio from iPhone
  • Lock Screen could become unresponsive on iPhone 12 mini

The previous update, iOS 14.2, was a somewhat larger one. It added more than 100 new emoji, incorporated Shazam in the control center, and introduced new audio and AirPlay features, among other things. That update was accompanied by updates to watchOS, tvOS, and others, as well.
Typically, updates with two decimal points in the number are minor bug fix updates, those with just one decimal point are small feature updates, and those with just a whole number (like iOS 14) are annual major releases.
iOS 14.2.1 should be available to all users on supported devices (any carrying the iPhone 12 name) right now.