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- Phenomenal battery life
- Seven years of software support
- Class-leading cameras
- Minimal performance improvements
- Some rivals have telephoto cameras
- New design feels more generic
The Google Pixel 9a was always going to be a landmark event in the highly competitive mid-range phone release calendar. It comes in as the replacement to my favourite phone in this price range, the Google Pixel 8a, and will naturally be hoping to step neatly into its predecessor’s shoes.
With the Pixel 8a’s extensive software support giving it greater longevity than most rivals, however, snatching its crown will be no mean feat, and the Pixel 9a will need more than just a newer processor and a couple of AI gimmicks to compete.
Without getting too far ahead of myself, I’d say that it succeeds; the Pixel 8a is probably better value for money at this point, but with huge strides in stamina, another excellent camera suite and the best software support in town, the Google Pixel 9a is easily the best phone you can get for under £500.
Google Pixel 9a review: What you need to know
As we’re used to seeing with these generational releases, the Google Pixel 9a makes a handful of small hardware changes, starting with the new Tensor G4 chipset. Backing this up is 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage space.
The 5,100mAh battery is the largest on any Pixel to date (up from the Pixel 8a’s 4,492mAh battery) and charging has been slightly improved from 18W to 23W. Wireless charging, however, remains at a paltry 7.5W.
The display is slightly larger than last year (6.3in compared to 6.1in) but is otherwise fairly similar, with the P-OLED panel offering a 2,412 x 1,080 resolution and a peak refresh rate of 120Hz. We’ve also once again got Gorilla Glass 3 over the top for scratch protection.
Set in a hole-punch notch near the top of the display is the same 13-megapixel (f/2.2) selfie camera as last year and over on the rear, the Pixel 8a’s 13-megapixel (f/2.2) ultrawide camera returns, too. Only the main camera is different: it’s now a 48-megapixel unit with a wider f/1.7 aperture.
Google Pixel 9a review: Price and competition
The Google Pixel 9a starts at the same £499 as its predecessor for the 128GB model. If you want to double the storage, however, you’re looking at a minor price increase, with the 256GB variant now costing £599, whereas the 256GB Pixel 8a cost £569 at launch.
The Google Pixel 8a can now be picked up for as little as £335, making it the biggest threat to the Pixel 9a. The cameras are still excellent, performance is about the same and it’s set for software support until 2031.
Both Apple and Samsung have handsets around this price, with the iPhone 16e costing £599 for the 128GB model – although it quickly balloons to a maximum of £899 for the 512GB model – and the Galaxy A56’s sole 256GB model coming in at £499.
Finally, we have the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, (currently £459) and Oppo Reno 13 Pro, (£649), which both have an advantage over the Pixel as they include telephoto cameras.
Google Pixel 9a review: Design and key features
I’m an unabashed camera bar apologist, and was already disappointed in the rest of the Pixel 9 series for toning down this iconic look, but the Pixel 9a takes things a step further and ditches the bar altogether.
There’s something mildly interesting about the almost-flat rear, with the tiny camera bump barely poking its head above the ramparts, but it’s no substitute for an eye-catching aesthetic or cohesive design language.
That gripe aside, the design is solid enough. The larger display means the 9A has a slightly chunkier body than the Pixel 8a, measuring 73 x 155mm (W x H), but it retains the same 8.9mm thickness and weighs a couple of grams less, at 186g. That’s impressive when you take into account the bigger battery.
The frame is once again matte aluminium, which I much prefer to the fingerprint-catching glossy edges on the rest of the Pixel 9 series, and the phone is rated IP68 for dust and water resistance, which is more robust than the Pixel 8a. There are two striking new colours, too, with Peony (pink) and Iris (lilac) joining the standard Porcelain (white) and Obsidian (black) styles.
As for the software, the Pixel 9a runs Android 15 out of the box, including support for basic Google Gemini services like Circle to Search and camera editing tools like Add Me and Best Take. As with the rest of the Pixel lineup, Google is also pledging a fantastic seven years of software support for the Pixel 9A, bringing it up to Android 22 in 2032.
Google Pixel 9a review: Display
The display might just be the stand-out feature of the Pixel 9a, which is no mean feat on a phone this well-rounded. The 6.3in P-OLED panel is broadly the same as last year, with a 2,424 x 1,080 resolution and peak refresh rate of 120Hz, but it can now get much brighter. On manual brightness, I recorded a peak of 1,120cd/m2 – near twice that of anything else in this price range – while adaptive brightness peaked at 1,401cd/m2 and HDR content reached 1,814cd/m2.
My testing also showed some excellent colour accuracy. The display offers two colour profiles, with Adaptive changing based on your content, making it optimal for gaming and streaming, while Natural sticks to authentic sRGB reproduction. On the latter profile, I recorded an sRGB gamut coverage of 98.1% and a total volume of 99.3%, with the average Delta E colour variance score coming back at just 0.67 – anything around or below 1 speaks to pin-point accuracy.
Google Pixel 9a review: Performance and battery life
The 3.1GHz Google Tensor G4 chip isn’t a particularly impressive upgrade over last year’s Tensor G3, scoring roughly the same in the Geekbench 6 CPU stress test. That’s disappointing but it is, at least, still some of the best performance in this price range, beating the Samsung Galaxy A56 by 25% in the single-core test and 14% in the multi-core.
Apple’s blisteringly fast silicon still sees the iPhone 16e far ahead of the Android pack but otherwise, the Pixel 9a bats away the competition with ease. It even bests the more expensive Oppo Reno 13 Pro, outscoring it by 25% and 9% in the single- and multi-core tests.
The GFXBench GPU tests were a little more promising, with the Pixel 9a squeezing out a handful more frames than its predecessor and massively outpacing the Samsung and Nothing competitors.
Only the more expensive Oppo and Apple rivals do better here and even then, the iPhone 16e’s outdated 60Hz screen trips it up, limiting on-screen playback to 60fps.
It may not offer much in the way of speed improvements but, as we saw with the rest of the Pixel 9 series, the Tensor G4 is much more power-efficient than its predecessor. As it has both a larger battery and lower resolution display than any of its siblings, it follows that the Pixel 9a would also have better battery life, but even still, the results of my testing are suspiciously incredible.
I’m currently redoing the battery test to confirm, so take this with a pinch of salt for now, but in our standard looping video test, the Pixel 9a lasted an outstanding 34hrs 5mins, putting it right up there with the longest-lasting phones we’ve ever tested.
Even if my retest comes back slightly different, it won’t be dramatically worse, so it’s safe to say that the Pixel 9a is something of an endurance champion, and will easily see you through a couple days of moderate usage.
When you do finally have to charge, the 23W charging speed brings the battery up to 50% in around 33 minutes, while a full hour will get it all the way up to 83%. Things slowed down considerably from there in my testing, however, taking 1hr 36mins to hit 100%.
That’s still better than the Pixel 8a, which was closer to two hours for a full charge, but the Galaxy A56 gets the job done in 1hr 15mins and the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro hits 100% in less than an hour.
Google Pixel 9a review: Cameras
It’s not often that Google is behind the curve when it comes to cameras but rivals like Motorola, Nothing and Oppo are putting the fire to Google’s feet by adding telephoto cameras to their mid-range handsets.
Google doesn’t even offer a telephoto on the more expensive Pixel 9, so the odds of one coming to the A-series any time soon feel low. That could put Google at a disadvantage if this is the direction the mid-range market is heading in.
That omission doesn’t sting too much, at least, as the cameras we do get are some of the best around. The 48-megapixel main camera sounds like a downgrade from the Pixel 8a’s 64-megapixel unit, but it’s still a fantastic shooter, producing plenty of detail and nicely natural colours in both good lighting and night shots.
I was already quite impressed with the Pixel 8a’s ultrawide camera, so it’s no big deal to see it return here. The colour tone is mostly in line with the main camera and detail capture is decent – barring the notoriously tricky corner areas.
New this year is macro focus, although it’s done via the main camera, as opposed to on the ultrawide like the more expensive Pixels. There’s no toggle, so it just automatically kicks in when you get close to the subject, advising you to back away slightly to get the cleanest focus. Results are solid, too, with sharp outlines around the subject and a buttery background blur.
Rounding out the versatile camera suite is video that once again shoots up to 4K/60fps and a deep bench of editing features. Add Me is included here, after debuting with the rest of the Pixel 9 series, allowing users to composite the photo taker into group shots. I’ve played around with this a few times now and the results are certainly impressive.
Google Pixel 9a review: Verdict
You may have noted that the cons I listed up top all feel rather nitpicky. That’s simply because the Pixel 9a does very little wrong. Performance isn’t much better than last year but it’s competitive in its price range, while battery life is massively improved, the display is impeccable and software support is once again unrivalled in its longevity.
Even the lack of a telephoto camera doesn’t feel like it hurts the Pixel 9a’s appeal all that much, as the other cameras are still leagues ahead of the competition.
The only real threat comes from Google’s very own Pixel 8a – especially with how cheap it is at the time of writing. Even then, however, you’re losing out on camera features, longer battery life and the extra year of software support. If you already have a Pixel 8a, it’s not worth upgrading, but for anyone else the Google Pixel 9a is the best mid-range phone around. If you have around £500 to spend this is the smartphone to splash it on.
