After so many missteps with Google smartphones over the years, the Pixel 9a is arguably one of the better ones to come from the Internet giant in recent memory.
Launched a few weeks ago, the Pixel 9a is the “budget” or “slimmed down” version of the full-fat Pixel 9, 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL flagship models out late last year.
In Singapore, the Pixel 9a’s S$799 price tag just about fits into my idea of a “high mid-range” or “sub-flagship” price of around S$700 to S$800, though you can get it at closer to S$700 on the street in Singapore, which turns this into an interesting option.
Let’s start with the design. For starters, the new Google phone looks much neater than even its larger siblings, which themselves are improvements over earlier Pixels with rather awkward camera bumps.
The Pixel 9a has kept its camera array tidy and not too obtrusive, though to be fair, it has two cameras at the rear instead of the three on its larger siblings.
The 48-megapixel wide camera and the 13-megapixel ultrawide camera should be handy for most everyday shots, from food pictures to holiday shots.
What you miss out on is a telephoto camera, which is likely to the least-used of all the cameras you’d find on a flagship phone today. So, if you want to keep to a tighter budget, this is where you might cut a corner from the Pixel 9 XL and 9 Pro XL.
Back on design, I also like the clean edges, as you’d find in the earlier Pixel 9 series. Plus, the satin-smooth finish that is free from fingerprints is great to touch. In the hand, the 186g Pixel 9a just fits snugly.
The good news is that the new phone retains the Google Tensor G4 processor that’s common in the Pixel 9 family. Not the fastest processor compared to Qualcomm’s latest on the Samsung Galaxy S25, but it’s able and fast enough for many tasks, including on-device AI tasks.
However, you get only 8GB of memory, less than the 12GB on the Pixel 9 and 16GB on the Pixel 9 XL and Pro. It might be a bit of a worry on paper but if you’re mostly firing away WhatsApp messages or even playing today’s demanding games, the Pixel 9a should work fine.
For storage, S$799 gets you the basic 128GB; unfortunately, it costs a lot more at S$939 for the 256GB model. Remember, since this is Google, there’s no expansion card slot and you’d need to use the cloud should you run out of space.
The Pixel 9a’s 6.3-inch OLED screen, to Google’s credit, offers a sharp 1,080 x 2,424 resolution. Whether viewing photos, working on e-mails or playing games, the phone displays vibrant images that offers the excellent contrast and colour vibrancy you’d expect from an OLED display.
One thing you might like or hate is the Pixel 9a’s screen size. Moving from my Samsung Galaxy A55, another mid-range model, I found the Google phone’s screen noticeably smaller than my existing 6.6-inch display.
It helps that the Pixel 9a appears to have higher information density, so I can see more of the e-mails on smaller screen, with less unused space. That said, I can understand that some users would prefer eye relief from a larger screen.
During my tests, I found the Android 15 operating system running effortlessly without any hitches – the interface was buttery smooth. Google also promises seven years of OS, security and feature updates.
As I mentioned earlier, the phone performs well for today’s apps. When I fired up the Asphalt 8 Airborne game and set the graphics to max, I found the action smooth and framerate surprisingly adequate.
The game also loaded pretty fast, which I had thought might be an issue with the scaled-down hardware here. Thankfully, the Tensor chip seems to do the heavy lifting for more demanding apps well.
More impressive for me is the Pixel 9a’s computational photography. By now, Google has made its software pretty adept at taking photos, say, in dark settings or in close-ups. Only complaint I have is still some apparent noise in night shots.
Google’s AI is able to capture detail while also automatically adding exposure where needed for an otherwise dark photo of, say, a park at night. Similar to earlier Pixel phones, the Pixel 9a impresses when compared to its competitors in the same price range.
The most-used wide-angle camera brings in a good amount of light and it doesn’t oversaturate the colours. It also captures details well, even in low-light situations. No doubt, Google’s AI has enhanced things automatically too.
Macro shots also appear to show off good amounts of detail, which is great if you want to focus on a small object. Like with previous Pixel phones, this is handy for getting in real close.
I think some users might find the ultrawide-angle camera a little limiting. It doesn’t seem to open up as wide as other flagships and you might have to move further away from a landscape shot, say, of the cliffs in Nusa Dua in Bali or a wide shot of a large group of people.
All said, though, the Pixel 9a is a great camera for its price. Yes, it doesn’t have an optical zoom camera, like many other phones in this price range, but for most everyday shots it excels with eye-catching pictures that pop.
Notably, there are lots of handy AI-powered tools to help you, like any “AI phone” today. Want erase someone from a picture? Okay, you can. I won’t go much into such features, as we explored them in earlier Pixel 9 reviews.
What I do like is that you get Qi wireless charging on the Pixel 9a, unlike cheaper options, say, Samsung’s Galaxy A56. The onboard 5,100mAh power pack on the Google phone also runs more than a day without issue, something you’d expect for most phones today.
Rounding off the specs list is IP68 support, which means the phone is dust-tight and water-resistant until you drop it more than 1m deep in water. So, it will be fine with some rain and grime when you go hiking or even kayaking – just don’t drop it in the sea.
One of the premium features you do miss out on is Wi-Fi 7. It’s not a big deal if you don’t have such a fast wireless network at home or if you don’t really download huge files on your phone (most users don’t).
Summing up, I’d say the Pixel 9a is one of the better “a” versions of the Pixel range from Google in recent years. Like the “FE” versions of Samsung flagships, it’s retained many of the premium features that matter, such as imaging capabilities.
The main sticking point is the S$799 sticker price, which pits it against the higher end of Samsung’s Galaxy A series phones and its FE versions of flagship phones as well. That’s not to mention competition from Oppo and Honor.
If you can get it at just over S$700 on the street, the Pixel 9a is more attractive and worth recommending. That said, you wish it’s going for the same price in the United States, which is a significantly lower US$499 or S$653.
