It's hard to find fault with the Pixel 9A
The A-series compromises are getting fewer by the year
You know how this goes by now. Google releases its latest Pixel phones in summer or autumn, then follows up in spring with an entry-level A-series model that includes some of the flagship range’s updated DNA.
The Pixel 9A is no different. I thought the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro XL were great, not to mention the fantastic 9 Pro Fold, and enough of those phones has trickled down into the $500 Pixel 9A to make it by far the best A-series Pixel yet.
Just like last year’s was.
For better or worse, the Pixel 9A is one of the most nondescript (least descript?) phones you’ll ever see. Google moved to the flat-sided trend with the 9 series and the 9A follows suit here; my “obsidian” black review unit looks like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This is in no small part due to the most minimalist camera bump I’ve seen on a phone in many years. We’ll get into the implications for performance later, but Google has clearly chosen to make the bump a defining part of the 9A’s design; the company calls it “slightly domed, simple and beautiful.” I like this move — the 8A plainly didn’t need to have the same conspicuous camera bar as the more expensive phones in its range, so the 9A’s approach is refreshing and honest.
The Pixel 9A has an aluminium frame and a plastic back panel. I didn’t mind this on the Pixel 8A, and the 9A feels pretty much the same, but this black review unit gets very fingerprinty very fast. Nothing you can’t wipe off on your jeans, but it does somewhat undermine what is otherwise an attractively austere device. I’d go for the “iris” purple or “porcelain” white models myself, though I could be swayed by the very pink “peony”.
Next to last year’s 8A, the 9A is a clear design upgrade. Camera bump aside, the flat-sided design feels much more up to date, and Google has managed to even out the screen’s bezels on all four sides; the 8A had the thicker “chin” on the bottom edge that’s often a telltale sign of a cheaper phone.
Side by side with the Pixel 9, though, you can see where corners have been cut. In fact, picking up the 9 again after a while away reminded me just how much I like that phone’s design. It has a glass back panel and much thinner screen bezels; those bezels also make the device a little smaller overall than the 9A despite having the same screen size. On the other hand, the 9’s relatively modest camera bump feels gigantic in comparison.
As far as I can tell, the 9 and 9A have the same display; they’re both 6.3” 2424 x 1080 120Hz OLED panels with 2,700 nits peak brightness and 1,800 nits in the more typical high brightness mode. More importantly, Google has finally stopped cheaping out on screen tech for its A-series phones — the 9A doesn’t suffer from any of the prominent off-axis colour shifting found in previous generations. The 9 had a great display, and I think the only compromise on the 9A is the slightly chunkier bezels.
This is the first A-series phone where I’d say the screen is straight-up good, and I’m not even factoring in the price here. No notes or complaints.
As for the rest of the Pixel 9A’s specs, it runs the same Tensor G4 chip as the rest of the Pixel 9 line. Storage only goes up to 256GB, however, and the 8GB of RAM is a step down from the 12 to 16GB in other Pixel 9 phones. That might be an issue for on-device AI in years to come, and the 9A isn’t going to compete with Qualcomm-equipped flagships, but for now the Tensor G4 is a strong performer in this price range.
At 5,100mAh, the Pixel 9A just pips the Pixel 9 Pro XL to the record of biggest Pixel battery ever. Google is also pushing the 9A’s “fast-charging” capability, although at 23W I wouldn’t call it a major upgrade over the 8A’s 18W. First-week impressions are never that useful, but for what it’s worth I’ve found battery life to be more than solid in my time with the 9A, particularly for a smaller phone.
So, the camera. As you may have surmised from the diminutive protrusion, Google did not cram much in the way of potent camera hardware into the Pixel 9A. The main camera has the same specs as the 9 Pro Fold’s, with a 48-megapixel 1/2” sensor and an f/1.7 lens.That’s actually a slight step down from the 64-megapixel 1/1.73" sensor in the 8A, although the lens is a little faster. The ultrawide, meanwhile, is a 13-megapixel 1/3.1” sensor with an f/2.2 lens.
There’s no telephoto, unsurprisingly — Google touts AI-enhanced “super res zoom” up to 8x. The 9A is the first A-series Pixel to support the macro and astrophotography features found on other phones.
As was the case with the 8A, and indeed the 9 Pro Fold, the hardware is not really the point with Pixel cameras. Google has settled on a look for the photos that Pixel phones take, and the Pixel 9A is capable of capturing that look. You can tell that the sensor is smaller, but in terms of colour rendering it’s usually a good match.
Here’s an example:
These photos look broadly similar, but because the Pixel 9 has a much bigger sensor, there’s a more natural falloff and fewer of the flowers are in focus. By comparison, the 9A shot feels more smartphone-like because more of the frame has that crunchy sharpened look to it.
I’ll go into more detail on the 9A soon in an Out of Camera post.
When it comes to software, well, this is still a Pixel that delivers the same pure-Google Android 15 experience as the more expensive models. That includes the new Gemini Live camera sharing feature that Google started rolling out this week, which is honestly very cool — you can start a real-time conversation with Gemini, open up your camera or share your screen and ask about what Gemini sees.
For example, you can pick up a canned drink where all the information is written in Japanese and ask Gemini for information in English on what it actually is. My quick testing at my nearest convenience store left me quite impressed at the accuracy; I could see myself using this in combination with the Pixel Buds Pro 2, where you can already invoke Gemini Live for conversations and then bring out the camera if necessary or convenient.
It’s hard to fault the Pixel 9A at $500 in the US. Unless you really need iOS or a glass back panel, I think it’s a roundly better phone than the iPhone 16E, which costs $100 more.
The 9A is also better differentiated from the rest of the Pixel lineup than the 8A was last year. The Pixel 9 starts at $800 and has gone on sale for around $650 from time to time, which is still quite a big step up in price for what amounts to a fairly minor upgrade: a better camera, extra memory and a more premium build.
I much prefer the 9’s design myself, but I’d happily recommend the 9A to anyone who’s more focused on price and functionality. This is another really solid entry-level phone from Google that fixes just about all the minor complaints I had with its predecessor.