With Google announcing the Pixel 9a today–but not launching it belatedly until early April–it’s useful to understand the trade-offs when compared to the more mainstream Pixel 9 that’s been available since last August. With a starting price of just $499, the Pixel 9a is $300 less expensive than the Pixel 9, which starts at $799. So what does that additional $300 get you?
A lot, as it turns out. But whether the additional cost of the Pixel 9 is worth it to you is, of course, subjective and personal. So here’s a list of the differences and a few notes to help you make that decision.
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🏋️♂️ Size
While both are similarly sized, the Pixel 9a, at 6.1 x 2.9 x 0.4 inches, is bigger in every dimension than the 6 x 2.8 x 0.3 inch Pixel 9. That said, the Pixel 9a lacks a camera bar, which may be slightly advantageous in that it won’t get caught on anything. (Neither should wobble on a hard, flat surface.) Whether it looks better or worse is, of course, subjective. But I like the camera bar and feel it gives the Pixel lineup its personality. It not being there, even in some aesthetic way, on the Pixel 9a seems odd to me.
📱 Display
I was surprised to discover that the displays on both phones are virtually identical. Both feature a 6.3-inch OLED display with a 1080 x 2424 resolution, a 20:9 aspect ratio, an adaptive refresh rate from 60 Hz to 120 Hz, an HDR brightness of 1800 nits, and a peak brightness of 2700 nits.
But there are some minor differences.
The Pixel 9a uses a pOLED display, whereas the Pixel 9 uses standard OLED. (The “p” stands for plastic, but this technology enables a thinner display.) The contrast ratio on the Pixel 9a (1 million to 1) is lower than that of the Pixel 9 (2 million+ to 1). And the Pixel 9a is protected by previous generation Gorilla Glass 3, while the Pixel uses Gorilla Glass Victus 2. Overall, the advantage goes to Pixel 9.
🔋 Battery life
The Pixel 9a has a larger 5100 mAh battery than the Pixel 9 (4700 mAh), and it delivers 30+ hours of battery life (claimed) vs. 24+ hours. The Pixel 9 supports two battery features the 9a lacks–fast wireless charging up to 15 watts (or 12 watts with a Qi-certified charger) and battery share (reverse charging)–but the Pixel 9a at least supports Qi wireless charging up to 7.5 watts.
💪 Processor
Both handsets feature the same Google Tensor G4 processor and Titan M2 security coprocessor.
🧠 RAM
Where the Pixel 9 offers 12 GB of RAM, the Pixel 9a offers just 8 GB of RAM.
This is a big deal, with the biggest issue being on-device AI: The Pixel 9a has to use a modal miniature Gemini Nano model that only runs when needed, which can impact performance, and it only supports text processing. The Pixel 9 (and other 9-series phones) supports an in-memory multimodal Gemini Nano model that works with text and graphics. So the Pixel 9a can only support a subset of the on-device AI features the Pixel 9 supports, and those operations will run more slowly.
🪣 Storage
You can configure a Pixel 9a or a Pixel 9 with either 128 GB or 256 GB of UFS 3.1 solid-state storage, so these are identical. Assuming the pricing is likewise identical–that seems reasonable–then a 256 GB Pixel 9a should cost $599.
📸 Rear cameras
Both phones offer a two-lens rear camera system. But not surprisingly, this is a major difference between the two, with the Pixel 9 coming out ahead.
The Pixel 9a ships with a 48 MP main lens with an f/1.7 aperture and an 82-degree field of view (FOV), which doesn’t seem that different from the Pixel 9’s 50 MP main lens with its f/1.68 aperture and 82-degree (FOV). But where the Pixel 9a main lens offers both optical image stabilization (OIS) and electronic image stabilization (EIS), the Pixel 9 offers something called Octa-PD, which provides “all pixel autofocus.” It’s not possible to know which is “better” without testing them side-by-side.
On the ultrawide lens front, the Pixel 9a uses an old-school 13 MP lens with an f/2.2 aperture and a 120-degree FOV, while the Pixel 9 has a superior 48 MP Quad PD ultrawide lens with autofocus, an f/1.7 aperture, and a 123-degree FOV. Advantage Pixel 9.
The camera features are all somewhat better on the Pixel 9, too, of course.
Both support Super Res Zoom up to 8x, Add Me, Macro Focus, Night Sight, Astrophotography, Portrait Mode, Face Unblur, Long Exposure, Real Tone, Panorama, Top Shot, Frequent Face, Magic Editor, Magic Eraser, Best Take, Photo Unblur, and Portrait Light capabilities. The Pixel 9 provides Action Pan capabilities. But the Pixel 9a also supports Auto Frame and Reimagine, two features the Pixel 9 lacks (temporarily, I assume).
For video, both support 1080p and 4K video recording at 30 and 60 FPS, but the 9 also offers 24 FPS. The Pixel 9 provides dual exposure on the main (wide) lens, and where the Pixel 9a is limited to 5x digital zoom, the 9 can do 7x digital zoom. And both support Audio Magic Eraser, Macro Focus Video, Cinematic Pan, Astrophotography timelapse, and Speech enhancement. But only Pixel 9 has 10-bit HDR video and Cinematic Blur, and its Audio Magic Eraser functionality appears to work a bitter better than on the 9a.
📷 Selfie camera
Surprisingly, the Pixel 9a does well here, but it’s not clear selfie camera which is better. The 9a has a 13 MP selfie camera with an f/2.2 aperture, and a 96.1-degree FOV, while the Pixel 9 offers a 10.5 MP Dual PD selfie camera with autofocus, an f/2.2 aperture, and a 95-degree FOV. Here, too, hands-on testing is required to declare a winner.
🎤 Microphone and speakers
While both phones provide stereo speakers, the Pixel 9 offers spatial audio capabilities (albeit it only through compatible earbuds/headphones). And where Pixel 9a has two microphones, Pixel 9 has three microphones while offering noise suppression capabilities.
🤔 Final thoughts
While it’s pretty clear that the Pixel is the superior phone overall, it’s not at all clear to me that it’s worth an additional $300. And there aren’t many specifications on the Pixel 9a that stand out to me as being horrible, though two could be problematic in the long term, the lame 13 MP ultrawide rear lens and the 8 GB of RAM that makes the on-device AI less useful and perform more poorly. If these are not a concern for you, the Pixel 9a seems like a no-brainer, especially when you factor in the 7 years of OS, security, and Pixel Drop updates.
