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Exactly one month after Apple unveiled the iPhone 16e, Google is taking the wraps off its lower-cost smartphone, the Pixel 9a. Unlike Apple’s handset, the Pixel 9a doesn’t come with a price increase—it still costs $499 like its predecessor. The biggest change is its design, but there are a few notable spec updates across the board, alongside smart features that debuted on the Pixel 9.
Google originally said the Pixel 9a would be available for preorder today and ship on March 26. However, at the last minute, the company stated the new handset wouldn’t go on sale until April and didn’t offer any more details. While we wait for the new release date, here’s everything we know about the Pixel 9a, the latest in a series that has frequently been our favorite smartphone to recommend for most people.
Flat Camera
Photograph: Brenda Stolyar
Gone is the iconic camera visor that made Pixel phones easy to distinguish over the past few years. Instead, there’s a horizontal camera module that sits alone very much like an iPhone 8 Plus.
Google says while it originally didn’t set out to make a flat camera module, the company found itself within shooting distance during the design phase and decided to go for it. It makes the phone look nondescript, with the peony and iris colors doing some heavy lifting. But hey, at least the completely flat design means the phone won’t rock on a table.
Everything you’d expect to find in a successor to the excellent Pixel 8A is here. Like a larger 6.3-inch pOLED screen that also gets brighter—up to 2,700 nits at peak brightness. The screen retains its 120-Hz refresh rate, a feature you won’t find on the pricier iPhone 16e. The phone’s IP rating has been bumped to IP68 (up from IP67), which means it can survive submersion underwater for longer periods. But the biggest spec upgrade is the battery.
Battery life has historically been a weak point on Google’s Pixel A-series phones, so Google has stuffed a 5,100-mAh cell into the Pixel 9a. That’s the biggest battery capacity we’ve seen on a Pixel yet, and Google claims 30-plus hours on a single charge. Also in tow is wireless charging, though it’s still the basic Qi variant and not the new and improved Qi2.
At the heart of the phone is the Tensor G4 processor, the very same that’s inside the flagship Pixel 9 Pro series, with 8 GB of RAM. That should mean excellent performance, especially compared to what you’ll find on other sub-$500 Android phones, not to mention 7 years of software support. This chip also drives many of the phone’s artificial intelligence features, and allows the Pixel 9a to take advantage of all the same AI camera tricks introduced on the Pixel 9 smartphones in 2024.
That includes Add Me, which lets the person taking the photo join in on the action by switching places with the subject. The software stitches two images so that both parties are in the same photo despite not standing next to each other at that precise moment. The Pixel 9a can also create a short astrophotography timelapse, and there’s even Macro Focus, which enables a macro mode via the main camera to take crisp photos of objects up close, like insects or plants. The camera system is driven by a revamped 48-megapixel primary camera joined by a 13-MP ultrawide, and a 13-MP selfie camera.
Photograph: Brenda Stolyar
Photograph: Brenda Stolyar
Naturally, Google is touting all of its Gemini AI features in this phone, one of which is a new addition announced at Mobile World Congress a few weeks ago and rolling out soon—live video in Gemini Live conversations. This lets you ask Gemini anything about the subject you’re looking at through the phone’s camera, powered by the company’s Astra technology (though this feature is limited to people on Google’s Gemini Advanced subscription).
Also new, but not strictly only available on the Pixel 9a, is the ability to generate images of people in the Pixel Studio app. This was a self-imposed restriction Google had before but now it’s gone, though it has kept certain guardrails on what you can generate. Lastly, if you’re moving over from another phone like an iPhone, you can bring your audio recordings with you and the Google Recorder app will automatically transcribe them. One less barrier to transition.
In the Android world, the Pixel 9a is competing against Nothing’s latest Phone (3a) series, which costs a little less. Nothing’s devices lack some capabilities—like no wireless charging and not as powerful performance—but they also have some perks, like the 3X optical telephoto camera. Samsung also recently announced a midrange phone, the Galaxy A56 for $500, though it’s not arriving until later this year.
We’ll update this story when Google shares a precise preorder and release date for the Pixel 9a.
