Google announced its entry-level Pixel 9a smartphone today with a starting price of $499, or $100 less than the iPhone 16e that Laurent recently reviewed.

“Powered by our fastest, most efficient chip yet, Google Tensor G4, Pixel 9a comes with everything you expect from our Pixel 9 series ,complete with a sleek redesign, upgraded main camera and Gemini built in,” Google director Soniya Jobanputra writes. “At just $499, Pixel 9a brings value, helpfulness, and AI smarts that are hard to beat.”

As we saw in the many leaks ahead of this announcement, the Pixel 9a arrives with a sleek new look that loses the icon Pixel camera bar in favor of a flat new form factor with a matte feel and rounded edges. It’s available in four colors–Porcelain (off-white), Obsidian (black), Peony (red), and Iris (a light purple)–and features a brighter 6.3-inch OLED display at 1080 x 2424 with Gorilla Glass 3 protection and a 120 Hz adaptive refresh rate.

Under the covers, the Pixel 9a is powered by a Google Tensor G4 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and 128 or 256 GB of solid state storage. It offers fingerprint and face unlock, USB-C 3.2, dual SIMs (nano and eSIM), stereo speakers, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and 5G with Sub6 connectivity.

Google claims the Pixel 9a has the best camera system in a smartphone that costs under $500, and unlike with iPhone 16e, customers get two rear lenses, a 13 MP ultrawide and a 48 MP main lens, plus a 13 MP selfie camera. Pixel 9a is the first A-series Pixel to offer Macro Focus, and it offers computational photography features like Add Me, Best Take, and Magic Editor. (Plus Magic Eraser, Audio Magic Eraser, Night Sight, Astrophotography, and Panorama with Night Sight.)

The Pixel 9a is the first sub-$500 smartphone to offer Gemini Nano on-device AI. It also provides Gemini and Gemini Live with screen and video-sharing capabilities, Circle to Search, Pixel Studio, and all the unique Pixel capabilities like Call Assist, Hold For Me, Direct My Call, Call Screen, and so on. It includes all the security features found in Pixel 9 and 9 Pro series phones, and includes VPN by Google for free.

The Pixel 9a offers over 30 hours of battery life, Google says, or over 100 hours with Extreme Battery Saver, the best of any current Pixel handset. There’s IP68 water and dust protection. And it provides 7 years of Android OS updates, security updates, and Pixel Drops.

Google is positioning the Pixel 9a as the ideal first smartphone for kids, with Google Wallet for Kids (in the US, UK, Australia, Spain, and Poland today), a new onboarding process, and Google Family Link so parents can manage the device,

The Google Pixel 9a will ship in April with prices starting at $499 for 128 GB of storage, and there will be single storage upgrade option, for 256 GB.