Google Pixel 9a launches — price, specs and all the new features

Competition among the best cheap phones is heating up, with phone makers as large as Samsung and as newly established as Nothing competing to produce the best phone under $500.

But at that price, it's hard to ignore Google and its Pixel A series, especially now that a new version has just been announced.

Google Pixel 9a Hands-On: New Design, Same Awesome Price - YouTube

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Google launched the Pixel 9a today (March 19), with the follow-up to the Pixel 8a promising everything you've come to expect from Google's midrange offering.

The new phone adopts the same silicon introduced with last fall's Pixel 9 lineup, meaning the same AI-powered features are now available in a phone that costs much less. That includes photo-editing tools, while the best camera phone under $500 also adds a new macro capability.

A less expected change is a new look for Google's phones that gets rid of the horizontal camera bar marking recent Google phones. And a bigger battery looks to tackle one of consistent complaints about Google's phones since the switch to Tensor chips — their ability to last a long time on a charge.

We've got a Google Pixel 9a hands-on based on our time with the phone, but here's a rundown of the new specs and features Google is introducing with the Pixel 9a.

Google Pixel 9a specs

Google Pixel 9a price and availability

Prices on phones have been inching upward, and Google hasn't been immune to that. Just last fall, the starting price on the company's flagship phone went up by $100 as the Pixel 9 now starts at $799. With the Pixel 9a adopting many of the Pixel 9's features, there as some concern that the midrange phone's price might also go up.

Those fears haven't materialized. The Pixel 9a starts at the same $499 as the Pixel 8a in the U.S., with that version of the phone offering 128GB of storage. Google also sells a 256GB version for $599.

In the U.K., the Pixel 9a will start at £499 while the phone will cost AU$849. Those prices are also unchanged from the Pixel 8a.

Unlike previous launches, the Pixel 9a is not available for pre-order. Instead, the phone will go on sale in April, Google says. Some retailers and wireless carriers are already publicizing their Pixel 9a deals ahead of that launch.

Google Pixel 9a design and display

The most visible change on the Pixel 9a appears when you flip the phone around. The camera bar you may have become accustomed to with recent models is gone, with the rear cameras housed in a pill-shaped array on the left side of the phone. Even more significantly, Google has tried to make the lenses as flush against the back of the phone as possible.

Google promises other design changes, too, with the Pixel 9a. The phone now offers IP68 water resistance, an upgrade from the IP67 rating on the Pixel 8a that means the new phone can survive a deeper plunge in water.

There's also an emphasis on sustainability. The Pixel 9a uses 81% recycled plastic, the most ever on an A Series phone, according to Google. The frame is made entirely out of recycled aluminum.

As for the display, the 6.3-inch screen is slightly larger than the 6.1-inch panel used by the Pixel 8a. It should be brighter, too, with Google promising 2,700 nits of peak brightness. The Pixel 8a topped out at 2,000 nits.

You can choose from four colors with the Pixel 9a — mainstays like Obsidian (black) and Porcelain (white) are joined by Peony and Iris. The former is a pink color first introduced with the Pixel 9, while the latter is a more purple shade.

Google Pixel 9a AI features

If you followed last fall's Pixel 9 launch, you'll be familiar with the new AI capabilities brought to the Pixel 9a with the addition of the Tensor G4 system-on-chip. But if you're not, you can expect a host of new features, with many of the biggest ones geared toward image creation and editing.

The Pixel 9a will support Add Me, a feature Google unveiled last fall that lets you insert yourself into a group photo even if you're the one taking it. With Add Me, you snap two photos — one with the main group and another one that you're in with augmented reality-based prompts showing you where to stand. Add Me then combines the two images into one.

Another Pixel 9 feature, Pixel Studio, also appears on the Pixel 9a. This is Google's image creation tool, where you can use text prompts to create an illustration. A recent Pixel feature drop added the ability to create images featuring people, and that's supported on the Pixel 9a as well.

As you'd imagine, Google Gemini is part of the AI feature mix on the Pixel 9a. The chatbot is present throughout the phone, whether it's finding event details from a Gmail message or taking action based on what's on your screen, like texting restaurant details to a contact.

The Pixel 9a also supports Gemini Live for more natural conversations with the assistant. Unlike the Pixel 9 Pro models, though, there's no Gemini Advanced subscription included with your Pixel 9a purchase.

However, not all of the Pixel 9 AI additions will be available on the Pixel 9a. Pixel Screenshots, which lets you search for screenshots by content, and Call Notes, which summarizes transcripts of phone calls, won't be supported, reportedly because the 8GB of RAM on board the Pixel 9a requires a less robust version of Gemini Nano than the one that powers features on the standard Pixel 9 models.

Google Pixel 9a cameras

The Pixel 9a is shifting to a 48MP sensor for its main camera, compared to 64MP for the Pixel 8a. But don't think of this as a downgrade, as the new main camera has a wider aperture that lets in more light. That should improve photos, particularly when the light is low.

As before, the Pixel 9a will feature a 13MP ultrawide lens as part of its rear camera setup.

Google is making other improvements, too. After not offering a macro feature on previous Pixel A series models, the Pixel 9a now offers a Macro Focus feature; you can also record 4K video in Macro Focus. Astrophotography support is now part of the Pixel 9a, too.

Up front, a 13MP selfie cam completes the camera setup on the Pixel 9a.

Google Pixel 9a performance and battery life

As noted, the Pixel 9a runs on Google's Tensor G4 chipset. We'll need to test the new phone to see how it performs, but we'd imagine results will be in line with the numbers we saw from the Pixel 9. That's not going to challenge the kind of muscle you get from flagship phones powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite or Apple A18 silicon, but it should improve upon the numbers posted by the Tensor G3-powered Pixel 8a. And that should also compare well with midrange phones running on more modest silicon.

A bigger performance change involves the battery inside the Pixel 9a. Google says it's turned to a 5,100 mAh power pack, which is quite the upgrade from the 4,492 mAh cell inside the Pixel 8a.

The Pixel 8a did all right on our custom battery test, in which phones surf the web over a cellular connection until they run out of power. When we tested the Pixel 8a last year, it beat the average smartphone by a little more than an hour. We're hoping to see bigger gains from the Pixel 9a, thanks to both the larger battery and the improved power efficiency of the Tensor G4 chip.

When it comes to charging, the Pixel 9a supports 23W wired charging, though Google says that's based on use with a Google 45W USB-C Charger. Wireless charging remains at 7.5W.

Google Pixel 9a software support

As with the Pixel 8a, Google will offer seven years of software support for the Pixel 9a, which includes Pixel feature drops as well as security updates. That means your sub-$500 phone will still be getting the latest features from Google through 2032.

Google continues to set the standard for supporting budget Android devices. Samsung's midrange Galaxy A phones, including the $499 Galaxy A56, just saw their support extended to six generations of Android updates along with six years of security releases. Nothing's recent Nothing Phone 3a also gets six years of security updates but only three years of Android support.

Pixel 9a outlook

Google has earned a strong reputation for delivering a lot of value in its Pixel A phones, particularly when it comes to AI features and camera performance. We're looking forward to seeing if the Pixel 9a maintains that tradition of delivering more for less.

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