Pushing the latest, greatest, most feature-rich gadgets often creates so much pressure that buying anything else can feel like a bike. Although pixel 9a is technically a new device, its chip is six months old. The same is true of its design, almost a carbon copy of its older siblings. Worse, the phone would have been a more affordable entry to the Pixel phone lineup, which is a death penalty for anyone who cares about keeping in sync with Joneses (or the latest specifications). But do you know? That’s OK, because starting at $500, the Pixel 9a offers the best value for any Android phone today.
Design and display: Simple but sturdy
The Pixel 9a looks very similar to the standard model, especially from the frontal model, which makes it difficult to distinguish them until they are placed side by side. Once done, you will notice that the 9A has a slightly thicker feature. But beyond that, there are not many differences. You can still get a relatively compact 6.3-inch OLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz and a peak brightness of 2,700 columns, just like on a regular pixel 9. It’s sharp and rich in colors, and it’s just one of the best monitors in that price range.
Engadget/Google
With the largest battery on any pixel, a simple but solid build, a nice screen and support for almost all Google AI features, the $499 Pixel 9a is probably the best value for any Android phone.
- Fashion design
- Great battery life
- Good display
- Great camera
- IP68 dust and waterproof rating
- Charging may be faster
- No pixel screenshot application
- Macro focus mode may be a bit picky
$499 on Google
If you pick two of them, you may also notice that the 9A is also a flatterer (6.56 oz vs 6.98 oz). This difference is due to Google’s abandonment of Gorilla Glass 3 for back panels, which is conducive to recycling of polycarbonate (also known as plastic). That said, you can still get a solid aluminum frame (also made of recyclable materials) and IP68 rating for dust and waterproofing.
By far, the 9A’s biggest departure is that unlike all the other pixels of the Pixel 6, it doesn’t have a big bar or visor with a camera. Instead, you get a small teardrop-shaped protrusion that accommodates the main and ultra-wide shooter. The module is so shallow that it actually sits on a phone, which makes it one of the few phones that have been actually on a table in recent memory. Of course, this is a very small design tweak, but as someone who doesn’t like the case, I think it’s pretty good.
Performance: Good enough
Just like the rest of the Pixel 9 family, the 9A is powered by Google’s Tensor G4 chip. The main change is that you can only get 8GB instead of featuring 12GB of RAM. That said, unless you often switch between apps or do more intense things like gaming or video editing, you won’t really notice the huge difference. In Geekbench 6, the two phones have very similar results, with the 9A’s multi-core score of 4,294 and the standard Pixel 9’s multi-core score of 4,360. For most people, the biggest potential impact is that you won’t be able to run a lot of applications in the background, and if you switch between them frequently, it may take some extra time.
The Pixel 9a also supports nearly every tool powered by Google AI, including useful things like crash detection and call assistance tools. You also have access to more advanced tools such as Gemini Live (including camera and screen sharing) and Pixel Studio (now with the ability to generate images of people), which can be a fun way to create silly custom images to troll your friends. Well, at least that’s what I use it for.
However, software support is not exactly the same as the more expensive models you use. This is because I really like the recent pixels (Google’s screenshot app) that don’t have on the Pixel 9a. This is definitely a creepy person because I found the ability to quickly search all the screenshots I took with AI is better than doing it manually. I’m not sure why I’m considering some other machine learning-based features, why not sure about it. But when asked, a Google representative told me that in order to “keep the starting price of $499, the company does have to make some trade-offs. As a result, some companies have [of the standard Pixel 9’s] Features are not available on the Pixel 9a. ”
Camera: Better image quality than phones
When it was first announced, Google claimed that the 9A would have the best camera on any phone under $500. After considering the Pixel family’s lineage for excellent image quality, I hit the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Ultra on my phone’s 48-MP main camera and 13-MP Ultra Ultra Came to make it really challenging. Despite the price of $800, it can be promoted without bones.
In the daytime photos of the cozy coffee shop, the Pixel 9a retains more details and produces better images than similar images taken by the S25U (although part of that is due to Samsung’s tendency to outstrip Sholpan). But maybe a better example is when I take pictures of the croquettes. The Pixel 9a’s lens not only looks more accurate, but also has better colors and is often more appetizing. In low light, my 9A works similarly and despite the tough conditions, my white balance works great while capturing sharp, detailed images.
Although the Pixel 9a doesn’t have a dedicated telephoto lens, Google is trying to make up for this with Super Res Zoom, which uses AI to support up to 8x digital zoom. Most importantly, the phone has a macro focus mode. That said, you won’t find specific settings in the camera app because it will automatically activate whenever you really get close to something. When you see a small flower icon popping up at the corner of the screen, you will know it is working. I found this pattern to give you a way to capture more details, but the focus of the nails can be a bit picky. I often have to adjust my phone forward or backward to find the best position for the camera.
Battery life: Best for any pixel
The Pixel 9A comes with a 5,100 mAh power pack that hardly beats its biggest siblings – the Pixel 9 Pro XL (5,060 mAh) – the largest battery capacity in Google’s phones. What’s more, the company claims that the 9A has the best runtime in any of its phones, and according to my tests, it’s not just hot air. In our standard local video summary test, the Pixel 9A lasted only over 28 hours on a single charge (28:04). This is half an hour better than what I got from normal pixel 9. Not too shabby.
The downside is that the phone hasn’t increased charging speed since last year, so you’ll still get lower rates when using a wired (23 watt) or Qi wireless (7.5 watt) power adapter. This is slower than what you get from the standard pixel 9 (27 watt wired and 15 watt wireless), which is probably one of the most compelling reasons you want to upgrade to the more expensive siblings of the 9A. To better emphasize the phone’s sleepy charging speed, I put it on a 25% battery-compatible pad and after 10 minutes it sucked only 5%. On the 9A, wireless charging is definitely what you use for convenience rather than speed.
wrap up
Look, the Pixel 9a may not be full of beautiful features, and its original specifications aren’t impressive. I would love to see Google add a real telephoto lens that might be better for charging speeds (wired and wireless). But for $500, Google’s most budget-friendly phone covers all the basics and then some.
The 9A’s camera quality can be twice as high as a flagship store, and it’s perform enough besides the most demanding gamers or multitaskers. When you add support for all Google-enabled software (such as Recorder app, Pixel Studio, etc.), you get a very compelling package. Plus, the lack of large camera impact means this thing is surprisingly stylish. If my kids are old enough to need a cell phone, that’s what I’m going to buy. For everyone who says they want a simple, solid phone, high-quality photos can be taken on the screen, which is the best way to do it.
