Google Pixel 9a vs. OnePlus 13R: Which budget phone is better?

Google's phones invite comparisons to devices from Apple and Samsung, but in the case of the latest midrange Pixel device, don't take your eye off on OnePlus. A Google Pixel 9a vs. OnePlus 13R face-off might be the one that helps decide which lower-cost Android phone you buy.

After limiting the release of its R Series phones to select markets, OnePlus has expanded the phone's reach in recent years, and this year's OnePlus 13R is one of the best values you can buy right now. It offers one of the longest-lasting batteries we've tested plus a flagship-grade processor in a device that costs less than the top flagships. And OnePlus has worked hard to steadily improve camera performance on its phones.

Still, the Pixel 9a enjoys some advantages out of the gate over the OnePlus 13R. It costs less, for starters, and its AI features are not only more extensive but more polished at this point. And that's before we talk about Google's reputation for producing the best camera phones among midrange devices.

A formal Google Pixel 9a vs. OnePlus 13R comparison will have to wait until Google's new phone hits the stores. But based on what we've seen in our hands-on time with the device here's how the latest Pixel compares to the OnePlus 13R that we tested earlier this year.

Google Pixel 9a vs. OnePlus 13R: Specs

Google Pixel 9a vs. OnePlus 13R: Price and availability

The Pixel 9a costs $499, exactly what Google charged for last year's Pixel 8a. That gets you a 128GB phone, with a 256GB model available for $100 more.

The OnePlus 13R is at a slight disadvantage here, since it costs $599. However, the one and only model includes 256GB of storage, so a Pixel 9a with similar capacity would cost the same. Still, you have the option to pay less for Google's phone if you don't need the extra storage space.

The OnePlus 13R went on sale back in January, and while OnePlus phones generally aren't available from wireless carriers in the U.S., you can buy an unlocked version from retailers like Best Buy.

We're still waiting for the Pixel 9a to go on sale. Google says that will happen in April.

Google Pixel 9a vs. OnePlus 13R: Design

The Pixel 9a certainly offers a more subtle look than the OnePlus 13R. Google's phone abandons the prominent camera bar that's characterized recent Pixel releases. Instead of a camera array that juts out from the back and spans the length of the phone, the Pixel 9a features a pill-shaped cutout that's practically flush against the back of the device.

Contrast that with the OnePlus 13R and its "Hey, look at me!" approach to its camera array. The cameras are housed in a prominent circular array that dominates the upper left corner of the 13R's back. The array sticks out, making the OnePlus 13R prone to wobbling when you set it down with the screen facing up.

The Pixel 9a looks more durable than the OnePlus 13R, even though the latter phone features Gorilla Glass 7i. (The Pixel 9a uses the older Gorilla Glass 3.) That's because the Pixel 9a offers iP68 water resistance, so it can be submerged in water. The OnePlus 13R's IP64 rating protects it against splashes, but that's it.

You get more color options with the Pixel 9a, which offers a choice of Porcelain, Obsidian, Peony and Iris. Those last two colors look pretty bright when compared to more staid monochrome tones. The Astral Trail and Nebula Noir colors of the OnePlus 13R look more like silver and black, though credit the Astral Trail option of adding some eye-catching concentric circles to liven up its look.

Google Pixel 9a vs. OnePlus 13R: Display

If you prefer larger screens, there's no debate as to which phone will catch your eye. Even after expanding its screen size from the 6.1-inch Pixel 8a, the 6.3-inch Pixel 9a can't match the OnePlus 13R and its 6.78-inch panel.

Both phones feature OLED screens, which have adaptive refresh rates. The Pixel 9a scales between 60Hz and 120Hz depending on your on-screen activity. The OnePlus 13R can go all the way down to 1Hz when the action is more static, which doubtlessly helps with its battery life.

On paper, the OnePlus 13R should outshine the Pixel 9a, with its display claiming a maximum brightness of 4,500 nits, compared to 2,700 nits for Google's phone. That said, when we tested the OnePlus 13R with a light meter, we never came close to registering that maximum, although I still found the OnePlus 13R's screen to be very bright and easy to see in most circumstances.

In the end, the only way we'll be able to see which display is brighter is to get both out in the bright sunlight and see which one is more visible.

Google Pixel 9a vs. OnePlus 13R: Cameras

A few years ago, this would have been an easy category to review. Just hand the Pixel model the camera phone crown and move on. But OnePlus's efforts to bolster its cameras are paying off, and the OnePlus 13R is proof.

Despite costing less than most flagships, the OnePlus 13R still includes a zoom lens in its rear camera area. The 50MP camera seems primarily geared toward portrait shots, though it does offer a 2x zoom with the promise of an algorithm cleaning up your shots if you zoom up to 4x. A 50MP main lens and 8MP ultrawide camera complete the setup of shooters in that rear camera array on the OnePlus 13R.

The Pixel 9a features just two rear cameras. The 48MP main camera has a wider aperture than the Pixel 8a's 64MP shooter, so the new phone should capture more light, producing better detailed shots. The other Pixel 9a camera is a 13MP ultrawide lens, and when it's time to zoom, you're relying on Google's Super Res Zoom feature to keep noise and blur out of your shots.

The Pixel 9a does pick up a few more tricks, like a macro mode and astrophotography support. It also benefits from a host of AI-powered photo editing features, and while the OnePlus 13R has added a few of its own, Google's been at this a lot longer than OnePlus has.

The OnePlus 13R has already proven it performs well against Google's camera phons, holding its own in a 200-photo face-off with last year's Pixel 8a that I conducted earlier this year. Besides the dedicated zoom shots, I was particularly impressed with how the OnePlus 13R handled color as well as night photos.

I'm looking forward to seeing if the new main camera sensor on the Pixel 9a helps Google's phone claw back those areas when we test both phones side-by-side.

Google Pixel 9a vs. OnePlus 13R: Performance

Because the Pixel 9a hasn't hit stores yet, we don't have benchmark numbers for Google's new phone. But we have some idea of how it will perform, as it uses the same Tensor G4 system-on-chip that Google introduced for last year's Pixel 9 flagships.

That sets up a tricky comparison with the OnePlus 13R. It's using older silicon, but not that old — the phone runs on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset that powered many of the best Android phones to come out in 2023. While that means the 13R can't match current Android flagships, it should have more than enough power to handle the Pixel 9a and its Tensor G4 chip.

Here's how the OnePlus 13R benchmark numbers compare to those posted by the G4-powered Pixel 9. Don't expect the Pixel 9a to match its siblings numbers perfectly (in part, because it has less RAM than the standard Pixel 9), but you can likely count on faster performance from the OnePlus 13R.

Google Pixel 9a vs. OnePlus 13R: Battery life and charging

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset doesn't just help the OnePlus 13R churn out fast numbers on benchmark tests. This Qualcomm silicon also boasts strong power management features, which helps the OnePlus 13R last a long time on our battery test.

All right, the super-sized 6,000 mAh battery inside the OnePlus 13R helps, too. But when we had the 13R surf the web continuously over cellular until it ran out of power, the phone lasted for 18 hours and 49 minutes. Only the gaming focused Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro and the OnePlus 13 flagship have posted better times, landing the 13R on our best phone battery life list.

The Pixel 9a will be hard-pressed to match that, although we are hoping to see an improvement over the Pixel 8a's time of 11 hours and 21 minutes. For starters, the Tensor G4 is more power efficient than the G3 chip running the Pixel 8a. Google also increased the battery size in the Pixel 9a to 5,100 mAh, the biggest power pack ever in one of the company's A Series devices.

The Pixel 9a features faster wired charging times than its predecessor, speeding up things to 23W. That's a far cry from the 80W the OnePlus 13R supports in the U.S. Even the 55W SuperVooc Power Adapter that OnePlus includes with its phone should charge the OnePlus 13R faster than the Pixel 9a.

However, the Pixel 9a includes wireless charging support. That's missing from the OnePlus phone.

Google Pixel 9a vs. OnePlus 13R: Software and special features

AI figures to be the differentiating factor between these two phones, even after OnePlus took great pains to add more AI capabilities to phones like the 13R this year. Those features include AI Notes, which auto-formats notes and makes tweaks based on writing style, as well as photo editing features that remove objects, eliminate shadows and adjust for blur in shots.

The trouble with AI features on the OnePlus 13R is that they proved pretty hit and miss in my testing. I like the auto-formatting capabilities of AI Notes, but not the rewriting capabilities. AI Eraser worked well at getting unwanted objects out of a shot, but AI Reflection Eraser varied in quality from shot to shot.

In my experience, the performance of AI features is far more consistent on Google phones, since those have been in place for years. That figures to continue on the Pixel 9a, even as Google's new phone adapts many of the capabilities introduced with the Pixel 9 flagships.

New additions to the Pixel 9a include Add Me, which inserts you into group shots where you might otherwise have been relegated to photo-capturing duties, and Reimagine for using text prompts to enact edits to photos. You also get access to Gemini Live and the Pixel Studio for generating images with text prompts.

Not every Pixel 9 AI feature appears on the 9a. The Pixel Screenshots app is missing, as is the Call Notes tool for auto-generating summaries of phone calls. But enough is here to give the Pixel 9a a wider variety of AI tools than what the OnePlus 13R offers.

You'll also get a phone that's supported for longer with the Pixel 9a, even after OnePlus boosted its support to four years of Android updates plus an extra two years of security patches beyond that. Still, the seven years of software and security updates Google provides the Pixel 9a beats what OnePlus offers.

Google Pixel 9a vs. OnePlus 13R: Outlook

A full Google Pixel 9a vs. OnePlus 13R comparison is coming once Google's phone goes on sale, but for now these two devices match up surprising well. Google may hold an edge in AI features, but its once unshakeable position as the king of low-cost camera phones has been challenged by all the improvements OnePlus has made.

Throw in a better performing chip and a battery that figures to last longer than what the Pixel 9a relies on, and the OnePlus 13R comes across as a pretty formidable challenger, even if it does cost $100 more. And the difference in storage size could wipe out that advantage for Google.

We'll have the full verdict soon.

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