If you’re looking to upgrade to a new midrange Android phone and somehow missed all the leaks over the past couple of months, then you might be thrilled to know that Google recently announced the Pixel 9a, its latest addition to its more wallet-friendly line of Pixel phones. As is the tradition with most A-series Pixels, the Pixel 9a borrows a lot of features from its flagship brethren, albeit with some missing elements. Let’s take a look!
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As we’ve covered before on here, the Pixel 9a combines some familiar visual elements along with a new look that steers way from Google’s established product design language. Like the Pixel 9 flagship devices from last year, the Pixel 9a comes with flat sides and panels all over, although it loses the camera bar design which made Google’s smartphones rather distinct (at least from the Pixel 6 onwards). It’s a bit thicker as well although this allows a large 5,100 mAh capacity battery to fit inside, the largest battery capacity on a Pixel phone by far.
Google has also equipped the Pixel 9a with the Tensor G4, which is the same chip used inside the Pixel 9 series. There are some changes though, such as the modem that the 9a uses. It’s based on an older Samsung Exynos modem and not the same one used in the Pixel 9 series, and considering that the latter featured improvements in thermals and battery performance, it is a bit of a disappointment. Alongside the Tensor G4, the Pixel 9a sticks with 8GB of RAM, and a choice of either 128 or 256GB of internal storage.
Going back on the outside, the phone’s display also comes with some improvements, such as 2,700 nits of peak brightness which outshines the Pixel 8a’s 2000 nits, and a sharp 1080×2424 pixel resolution. It’s also smooth with a 120Hz refresh rate, which should make content consumption such as movie binges and even gaming a bit more immersive. One downside to the display however is that it still uses Gorilla Glass 3, and it would have been nice to see Gorilla Glass 5 at least at this price range. The screen is wrapped in an aluminium-plastic chassis which is available in either Obsidian, Porcelain, Iris and Peony, along with IP68 dust and water resistance.
For cameras, the Pixel 9a finally ditches the 64MP sensors that we saw on the Pixel 7a and 8a. You’re now getting a 48MP main sensor that works in tandem with a 13MP ultra-wide camera, and a 13MP front camera for selfies and video calls. This entire hardware setup starts at £499, although Google says that it won’t start shipping the Pixel 9a until later in April due to certain component issues, although it didn’t specify what exactly.
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Finally, you’re getting Android 15 on the Pixel 9a in addition to up to seven years of software upgrades, which is ideal for folks who want to keep their phones for a long time.
