Google Pixel 9a reviewed: stellar value

How much should a great phone cost? That’s the question Google is asking with the Pixel 9a, a mid-range handset that offers almost everything you could want in a phone, and a price that feels just right at that.

You have to feel for anyone buying a phone these days, because it’s not necessarily easy to pick something built to last longer than five years.

Most phones can provided you treat them well: arm them with a screen protector and case, and a phone should keep working for a few years, but there’s more to it than that. There’s also the matter of software updates, something manufacturers aren’t always as friendly with.

High-end phones can keep getting updates for 7 or 8 years, but mid-range and budget phones often see a lower amount, sitting between one to three years at times. Some inexpensive phones may never seen an operating system update in Australia, leaving you with the phone you bought initially.

Google appears to be changing this, though.

With the Pixel 9a, Google is taking its regular Pixel phones and their seven-year software update cycle, and viewing it through a mid-range package lens. Does it work, and is the Pixel 9a a phone you can keep using for years to come?

Design

Take the Pixel 9a from the box and you’ll be greeted by a gradual evolution of the Pixel design language, which also appears to be the design language of plenty of other phones, as well.

Flat metal edges with soft corners encasing a handset of glass seems to be the order of the day for Samsung and Apple, and Google has joined that, as well. It’s what you could find on the Pixel 9 Pro XL and its siblings, and wouldn’t you know, it’s also found on the Pixel 9a.

The back is more of a matte glass finish, a look that picks up on greasy fingerprints almost too easily, though the phone is also IP68 water resistant, so it’s not as if washing it off is a hard ask.

Google has definitely ironed out one thing, though, and it’s a welcome change: the camera is flush against the body. A two camera system that’s pushed flat against the rear of the Pixel 9a, it’s a surprising design change because not only have previous Pixel a models seen a rear extrusion, but all of the premium models have, as well.

For the first time, an a-series Pixel is leading the charge for a properly flat camera bar, largely by removing the bar and flattening the whole section. It’s a welcome change and an impact you can’t feel, which is really the point. This camera section doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb; it doesn’t stick out at all.

It’s more or less in line with the 8.9mm thickness, which doesn’t feel hefty at all, even if it’s identical to the 8.9mm thickness of the Pixel 8a before it. You’ll come away thinking the Pixel 9a is thicker because it doesn’t curve on the sides, but that’s just a design thing, and is even around three grams lighter (186g).

Features

No obvious extrusion for the camera system is good, and manages to almost hide the 48 megapixel F1.7 wide camera sitting next to the 13 megapixel F2.2 ultra-wide. It’s almost entirely flush with the body, with the LED flash clearly flattened against the matte glass back.

However, the camera system is but one feature in the handset, which brings together much of what worked in the Pixel 9 standard, but to a slightly lower price point.

Inside, there’s the Google Tensor G4 chip paired with 8GB RAM, as well as either 128 or 256GB storage (our Pixel 9a review unit was the 128GB variety). Google’s Android 15 arrives in the phone out of the box, with support for seven years of operating system and security updates.

Wired connections are pretty slim, as they are on most phones these days: you get a USB-C port at the bottom for charging, data, and converting to a 3.5mm headset jack if need be. By comparison, there’s plenty more on the wireless side of things, covering sub-6 5G, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, Near-Field Communication (NFC) for Google Pay, and GPS. Google also supports a car crash detection mode and an earthquake alerts system, too.

All of this sits under a 6.3 inch 2424×1080 OLED display, capable of running at 60 to 120Hz for smooth animations at the high end, with support for HDR and Corning’s scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 3 protecting the display.

Inside, there’s a 5100mAh battery that supports fast wired charging and slower Qi wireless charging. Sadly, there’s no support for Qi2 in the Pixel 9a.

In-use

This clearly isn’t our first rodeo with an Android phone, having had plenty pass through the Pickr review process, and more again before this publication existed and its journalist worked at now-rival publications.

But if you’ve used pretty much any mobile phone or computer operating system before, using Android 15 on the Pixel 9a will be immediately apparent. It’s more of the multiple widgetised home screens, a left-most Google Discover screen of a regularly updated content feed, and support for apps in a menu waiting for you.

It’s Android 15 and easy to use, with a little bit of Google’s love for AI thrown in alongside. You won’t get the Screenshots app found in the more expensive phones, but you will find the wallpaper maker that uses AI to build backgrounds seemingly out of nothing, as well as Circle to Search, a feature that might help you find things if you circle them on the screen.

And of course, there’s a built-in fingerprint reader and facial security system, so unlocking your phone is easy enough. Simply look at it the right way or press your digit to the screen. You’ll get there quickly.

Performance

Armed with the same chip from last year’s excellent Pixel 9 range, the Tensor G4, you can expect similar performance to what we saw in last year’s phones because, well, it’s the same.

That tried and true formula of reusing the same hardware means the Pixel 9a gets all the quality tech from the Pixel 9 Pro XL and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, even if the memory size is different (8GB compared to roughly 16GB on the more expensive models).

However, the performance boost is definitely there when you compare the Pixel 9a against its predecessors in the Pixel “a” ranges, with a serious boost over the past near-decade of handsets.

It’s a considerable boost if you’re coming from a Pixel a phone before it, and you may even find an upgrade on some of the other regular Pixel models.

Where the Pixel 9a struggles to compete is with one of last year’s best mid-range phones of the bunch: the Galaxy S24 FE.

Comparatively, the Google handset has what it takes to challenge the likes of an Oppo, a Moto, HMD’s Skyline, and even the recent Nothing Phone 3a Pro. And yet the more expensive Galaxy S24 FE beats the performance of the Pixel 9a rather easily.

Granted, there’s roughly $250 worth of difference there, so Samsung’s phone should beat Google’s. But it’s also not alone.

The Pixel 9a’s most obvious competitor — the iPhone 16e — also has the new budget Pixel in its sights, and appears to have an edge on performance as well.

The problem with benchmarking an iPhone against an Android is that it’s not really apples and apples, or even Apples and Androids. Rather, the two pieces of hardware are different enough that benchmark differences can be accounted for almost too easily.

In real world performance, the Pixel 9a should be fast enough for most of what you throw its way. Apps will be fine, as they were for us, and even the odd game or two should be okay, as well. Don’t expect it to necessarily handle every intense video game you can find, but it’s top dollar performance for a surprisingly economical price.

It’s a similar picture when looking at 5G, provided you’re within reach of a decent telco connection.

Testing the Pixel 9a’s 5G in Sydney, Australia on Mate’s use of the Telstra network, we found speeds as high as 280Mbps, though your speeds may vary. That should be enough for streaming media, and was for our uses.

Camera

Next up is the camera, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s one of the better features of the Pixel 9a. Flat with the body, the Pixel 9a’s camera is different from what you get on the standard models, and yet still manages to hold its own rather nicely.

There’s a 48 megapixel wide angle F1.7 camera capable of some lovely images day and night, as well as some excellent portraiture thanks to Google’s algorithmic photo processing, while the 13 megapixel F2.2 ultra-wide is a nice inclusion, as well.

And there’s also a surprise: support for macro, or a variation of it.

One of the very surprising additions — particularly because Apple skipped over it in the iPhone 16e — the macro support in the Pixel 9a is actually quite usable, delivering some decent details of the up-close world you might not have spent too much time staring at, and certainly wouldn’t have expected in a budget phone.

Sugar crystals and chalk and bugs and flowers and more are all available for an up close personal conversation with owners of the Pixel 9a. It’s not quite as impressive a macro ability as the Pixel 9 Pro XL can manage, or even on the same level as the clarity from the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but for a sub-$900 phone, it’s an impressive little camera all the same.

All up, it’s a fine camera for the price range, providing a good assortment of wide and ultra-wide, and even offering some of that AI image editing capability the Pixel range has become known for.

Battery

The sizeable 5100mAh battery inside is definitely big enough, achieving a little over the typical 5000mAh maximum we normally see. Between that and the optimisation of the hardware, you should find anywhere between 24 and 40 hours of battery life, at least from our tests.

Spending time with the Pixel 9a as our daily driver for a little over a week, we found the phone likely would provide up to two days of use, needing a charge on that second night. Screen time throughout would largely see 4 to 5 hours for those two days, so if you use your screen more, expect an earlier charge.

However, that’s a pretty decent result, given not every phone will let you hit past day one comfortably. The Pixel 9a does rather well, all things considered, and you even get wireless charging thrown in for good measure, complete with USB-C charging.

Value

The price is probably the most important aspect, standing out because of where it is and what it’s essentially competing with.

Priced from $849 in Australia, the Pixel 9a feels like it’s more expensive than previous Pixel a phones, but still also feels like a good value based on today’s phones competing at market. For the price, you get what is ostensibly a high-end phone with a price tag sitting at the high end of the mid-range, which is clearly good enough for most people.

Its obvious competition comes in the form of the $999 iPhone 16e, a mobile we think should be at least $100 less in Australia, and offers one camera by comparison. An iPhone isn’t a Pixel, so comparing them isn’t exactly the same. But the price on the Pixel 9a does make more sense overall.

What needs work?

The omission of a telephoto camera is about the only quibble we really have.

The design is up there, the feel is great, the performance is solid, and you’d have a hard time arguing about any other feature, except maybe an extra third camera.

Getting a little closer with your photography is becoming the norm, and a 2X or 3X camera can actually be found in mid-range phones. Nothing’s Phone 3a Pro is a great example of this, arriving with wide, ultra-wide, and close. The Pixel 9a misses out on that approach, but doesn’t feel like it’s really missing anything. It’s a minor omission in the grand scheme of things, but worth pointing out all the same.

In many ways, the Pixel 9a is enough of a phone for anyone, particularly someone who doesn’t necessarily need a close up camera. It has just about everything else you could possibly want.

What we love

You frankly won’t care that you don’t get a telephoto lens, because the rest of the two camera system isn’t just great, it’s better value than some other phones priced in this part of the market.

In fact, what we love about the Pixel 9a is just how great a value it is.

The “a” series of Pixel phones has always represented value, with the hardware often being a slightly less expensive take on the standard model that popped up half a year before it. The Pixel 8a was a more economical take on the Pixel 8 launched not even a year before it, and it’s a similar story with the 7a versus the 7 and so on.

Final thoughts (TLDR)

In the Pixel 9a, the sheer amount of value Google has thrown in will make you question why you would possibly need to spend on a more expensive phone.

Sure, you don’t get every bell and whistle from the slightly more premium Pixel 9, the much more premium Pixel 9 Pro and XL variants, or even the foldable edition, but it’s near enough for jazz. What you get is a stellar value that’ll keep you going for a while to come.

It’s an easy recommendation for someone looking for a great phone that ticks almost every box, and will for the next few years, too. Recommended.