Update not needed?

Just a guess, but if you recently got an 6s, did you have an earlier phone that you upgraded from?

iTunes may still be finding that old phone and thinking it has older iOS.

I had similar situation as I upgraded recently from 6+ to 6S and iTunes kept telling me to upgrade. But it was the older phone. I disconnected, restarted both phone and computer, and added the 6S as new device, dropping the 6+.

Try disconnecting, shutting off both devices (Mac and your new phone) and then restarting first, Steve. Then start Mac, then new phone, then connect to iTunes.

If WiFI syncing is activated on the old device, iTunes will detect it and notify you it needs an update, even if it isn't physically connected to your computer.

The update to iOS 9.2.1 is still numbered the same, iOS 9.2.1. The only "change" is the build number, and it contains a fix to the Error 53 issue. This update cannot be done OTA, it can only be done with the device connected to the computer and iTunes. Here is a link from an article in MacRumors describing it, http://www.macrumors.com/2016/02/18/apple-ios-9-2-1-error-53-fix/ and the support document link from Apple. If you see error 53 and your iPhone or iPad gets stuck on the 'Connect to iTunes' screen - Apple Support

As explained in the article that I provided, it cannot be done OTA, that is why the phone still shows up to date. It will only show and download when connected to the computer and iTunes. Depending on your settings in iTunes, the phone will not check for updates unless you prompt it. You can set it to check on a schedule, or only check manually. No bugs.

So even if I only update my Iphone by Wifi I should still go ahead and update via Itunes so this will prevent any error from happening. Another question is

why do you say the phone only checks for updates if you prompt it. I usually get notifications or a red circle letting me know to check. Are you saying that it's just for this particular update then? I read the article, didn't it say not to update if you only update OTA (wifi)?

I just do need the headache right now and just need to be clear and hopefully this will help others with this issue

as well. Thanks to SteveS for posting this otherwise I'd be searching forever to find a fix to this.

Thanks ChrisJ for the info and solution as well.

This update can only be done via the computer and iTunes. It is designed that way. You should update your device.

Your description of the red circle is for OTA updates. My statement was regarding iTunes checking for updates, and it is possible to configure iTunes to only check for updates if you do so manually. The iPhone will check for updates and actually download them if the device is connected to Wi-Fi and power. That will allow it to download the update to the phone, but will not install it without user interaction. This one particular patch is an exception to that.

The article does not state not to update if you update OTA, it says that you cannot apply this patch OTA, it can only be applied by connecting to the computer and iTunes.

Thanks for the clarification. I did update with no problems except a peculiar Firefox issue which I fixed by deleting the app and reinstalling.

After searching and clicking images in Bing the X to close would be on left side instead of right with the search being on the right instead of left.

Weird never did that before. Thanks again for the info. Cheers