Google Pixel 9a Long-term Review with Android 16: Strong basics, no frills

Pros:

Looks classy even without the camera band

Fairly compact design with IP68 ingress protection

Good overall performance for the segment

Excellent main camera, good ultra-wide camera

Sharp and bright 120 Hz OLED display

Smooth and clean Android 16 experience

7 years of software updates promised

Cons:

Very slow charging; no bundled charger

Thick bezels around the display seem deliberate

Plastic back doesn’t feel very reassuring

Rating: 4/5

Price: Rs 49,999

The Pixel ‘a’ smartphones are meant to be a relatively affordable entry point to the particular series of Pixel phones. The Pixel 9a is the latest of the lot. To keep its price down, Google does pull back on a couple of features as compared to the non-a variant. Since last year, the company has been cutting fewer corners, and that’s the case this year too. The Pixel 9a gets the crux of the Pixel 9, barring a couple of features at a significantly lower price tag, which makes it a tempting option on paper at least.

Recently, the Pixel 9a received the Android 16 update as well, which is what we were waiting to experience before penning down the review. But before we tell you what’s good about the phone, what’s not and whether you should consider buying it, a quick look at how it compares with the Pixel 9 as well as its predecessor, the Pixel 8a.

Google Pixel 9a vs Google Pixel 9: What corners have been cut?

The Pixel 9 and 9a have many similarities barring a couple. The most significant being the camera department, and more so the relatively inferior ultra-wide camera on the latter that lacks auto-focus, and as a result, takes away its macro capabilities. So you cannot get too close to the subject you aim to capture. The front camera on the 9a also lacks auto-focus. Other minor downgrades include Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection for the display instead of Victus 2 and an optical under display fingerprint scanner instead of ultrasonic.

There is a slight drop in peak charging speed too from 27W on the Pixel 9 to 23W here. To be brutally honest, both are very slow for today’s charging standards. On the bright side, the Pixel 9a has a higher capacity battery than its more expensive sibling: 5100 mAh vs 4700 mAh. Like all other Pixel ‘a’ phones, the glass back on the 9 is replaced by a plastic one on the 9a. It’s a non-issue if you use a case anyway. The camera island is significantly smaller, which we will talk about shortly.

Google Pixel 9a vs Google Pixel 8a: What’s new this time?

As expected, the Pixel 9a gets the newer and more powerful Google Tensor G4 chip with enhanced AI capabilities. The display is slightly larger (6.3 vs 6.1-inch) and brighter while retaining the 120 Hz refresh rate. Water resistance sees a small improvement from IP67 to IP68. Google has used a different 48MP main camera on the Pixel 9a as opposed to the 64MP unit on the 8a. The 13MP ultra-wide camera has been carried forward.

The battery capacity sees a significant jump from 4492 mAh to 5100 mAh with a slight improvement in charging speeds from 18W to 23W. The Pixel 9a debuted with Android 15 and an Android 16 update is now available for the device. While the 8a had Android 14 out of the box, that too is upgradeable to Android 16. Google has promised an impressive 7 years of OS and security updates for both the phones, but the Pixel 9a will receive one newer version of Android before it stops being supported.

Now let’s move on to the finer details of the Google Pixel 9a.

What we liked about the Google Pixel 9a

Compact, minimalist and classy design

The Google Pixel 9a is a simple yet elegant looking phone that actually looks different from the rest of the Pixel 9 series. And that’s mainly due to the absence of the camera band at the back that has become the signature design element of Pixel phones over the past few years. The lack of it doesn’t take away anything from the Pixel 9a and it looks as classy without it.

The small pill shaped camera island at the back that barely protrudes goes well with the matte back, and especially the Porcelain variant. The aluminium frame makes the device feel sturdy and premium, however, the company could have done a little better with the not-so-reassuring plastic back. The phone is fairly compact and reasonably light for today’s standards and feels great in hand.

The Tensor G4 chip throttles a lot less now

The Pixel 9a is powered by the same Google Tensor G4 chip found in the more expensive Pixel 9 and 9 Pro/ Pro XL phones. As a result, the benchmark scores of the 9a are in the same ballpark. While the Tensor G4 doesn’t have the raw muscle power of even the last generation Qualcomm flagship chip, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, it remains a very good option for a phone priced under Rs 50,000. And let’s not forget its improved AI capabilities that continue to get better with time.

Speaking of improvements, there has been a marked one in an area that has traditionally been a drawback of the Google Tensor chips - thermal throttling. When we reviewed the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL earlier this year, the performance of the Tensor G4 chip would drop to 56% as the temperature approached 45 degrees celsius. The same chip on the 9a managed to stay above 75% even at that temperature, which is not just impressive but even better than Qualcomm’s top chips.

Coupled with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB UFS 3.1 storage, it delivers solid performance in day-to-day activities as well as demanding tasks like photo editing using AI tools or gaming. You can play most of the current games on it but may have to lower the graphics settings in some cases for better frame rates. Qualcomm flagship chips are still better at gaming.

Sharp and bright 120 Hz OLED display

The Pixel 9a pretty much uses the same display tech from its predecessor but the screen is just a little bigger and brighter than before. It has a 6.3-inch Full HD+ OLED display with 2700 nits peak brightness and 120 Hz refresh rate. The refresh rate isn’t as dynamic to lower it down to 1 Hz depending on the content being displayed on the screen, but things are generally smooth once you toggle on a similarly named setting. The thick bezels around the screen continue to be present, which we will talk about shortly.

The OLED screen is bright and well calibrated for colour accuracy. Barring the usual two modes - Adaptive and Natural, you don’t get many screen adjustments here, but most users won’t need them. The screen is protected against scratches by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3; well; not as durable as Victus 2 in the other Pixel 9 phones, but something is better than nothing. The placement of the in-display optical fingerprint scanner is spot on and you don’t need to stretch your thumb to reach it. It is responsive too.

Camera performance remains impressive despite hardware limitations

The Pixel 9a has a 48MP primary camera with optical image stabilisation (OIS) and a 13MP ultra-wide camera with fixed focus and 120 degrees FOV at the back. The 13MP selfie camera up front with an ultra-wide lens has been retained and it still does a good job with its broad FOV and accurate skin tones. There is no dedicated telephoto camera here nor is there auto-focus on the ultra-wide unit, hence no macro capabilities. Despite the hardware limits, the photography department here does a respectable job.

The main camera captures some excellent shots in well lit as well as low light conditions with fairly accurate colours, good detail and excellent dynamic range. When the light drops below a point, the phone automatically switches to Night Sight mode that brightens up the image just enough without going overboard or compromising on the detail. You can switch to it manually too. The Pixel 9a’s low light performance is among the best in this segment.

As I mentioned, there is no dedicated telephoto camera here but the camera app does give you a 2X zoom toggle, which is pretty much hybrid/digital zoom. While the captured images aren’t exactly lossless, the 2X zoomed shots are quite good and perfectly usable even in low light. You can keep zooming in till 8X, but you start losing detail fast beyond 4X.

The 13MP ultra-wide camera does a pretty good job and the results are comparable to that of the main camera in good light. While it is more than decent in low light too, it would be best to stick to the main camera when the light drops. The Pixel 9a does not have a macro camera and you cannot capture images from too close, but shooting from a little further away and cropping the image does yield good results.

All cameras can record videos at 4K resolution, however, the main camera can do so at 60 fps while the other two are limited to 30 fps. You get OIS in videos when using the main camera and the captured footage looks crisp and well-stabilised. You can record 1080p slow motion videos at up to 240 fps. The overall camera performance is quite impressive, and though there are no significant improvements over its predecessor, there is certainly nothing inferior either.

You can check some of the unedited camera samples shot on the Google Pixel 9a here :

Fluid Android 16 experience, 7 years of major updates

As one expects from a Pixel phone, you get the cleanest Android UI on this phone. You get the pure Android experience without any bloatware or ads and with the Material You design language. The user interface is fluid, totally lag free and void of any major bugs. The Pixel 9a launched with Android 15 and received the Android 16 update recently. One can expect at least 6 more major OS updates and 7 years of security updates for this device, which will keep the phone secure and relevant for a long time.

The buzzword for the Pixel 9 series has been AI, or superior Gemini integration, and the Pixel 9a is no different. You get more than a handful of tools on this phone to play around with, along with the popular Google apps that are seamlessly integrated. You also get a super-charged virtual assistant that is capable of doing a lot more than the usual Google assistant found in most Android phones.

Features like object recognition using Google Lens or speech recognition or translation were already available, and also things like ‘circle to search’ wherein you circle an object on the screen and Google gives you more information about it. In addition to the Magic Eraser and Camouflage options to play with your photos, you also get the Magic Editor to enhance your images in different ways. Google also bundles Pixel Studio to make use of generative AI and let your creativity run wild and create images ranging from normal to abstract to absurd.

The Android 16 update brings more enhancements for photography and videography, but some of them would be more prominent on the Pixel 9 Pro phones we feel. Android 16 also brings better security and multitasking along with more accessibility options and support for LE audio. There are a lot more things to talk about and more things that will get added over time. We will discuss all that in a separate article. For now, one can check Pixel Tips on the phone from time to time to explore new or enhanced features made available. Also note that not all features may be available in all geographies.

Improved battery backup

The Google Pixel 9a now hosts a higher capacity (5100 mAh) battery as compared to any other Pixel phone in the 8 or 9 series, including the Pixel 9 Pro XL. That translates into a noticeably improved battery backup that has improved even further since its launch. The Pixel 9a easily lasts for a day and a half of moderate use without gaming, and can get closer to two days on a lighter load. That is very good battery backup for a fairly compact phone.

What we did not like about the Google Pixel 9a

The slow charging saga continues

If you have read any of our Pixel phone reviews, you know what I am talking about. While other Pixel 9 phones have shown a marginal improvement in this department, the 9a continues to lag behind. In terms of numbers, the Pixel 9 takes about 88 minutes to charge from 1 to 100%, the Pixel 8a took over 2 hours, while the Pixel 9a gets there in 1 hour 55 minutes. The 9a does offer faster charging speeds as compared to its predecessor (23W vs 18W), and as a result, manages to charge a higher capacity battery faster.

While there is an improvement over the 8a, the Pixel phones in general (not just 9a) are still a fair distance away from the current charging standards in Android phones. To put things into perspective, a lot of phones these days manage to charge their higher capacity batteries fully in about 45 minutes or less. An hour would be acceptable too. Two hours is just way off in 2025.

The thick bezels around the display seem intentional

We have been noticing it every year in the ‘a’ series phones and now I have come to believe that the thick bezels around the display is either a design element or a deliberate ploy to make the Pixel 9a look inferior to the Pixel 9. Probably, one of the ways to justify the 25K premium one needs to pay for the Pixel 9 with largely comparable specs barring the cameras. Google needs to think of other differentiators next time. Several budget phones that cost less than half have leaner bezels than what you get here.

Google Pixel 9a: Price and verdict

The Google Pixel 9a is still available for purchase in India at its launch price of Rs 49,999 for the 256 GB storage variant, which is the only storage variant this time. I was expecting the price to drop by now but probably they are saving it for the mega festive sales starting next month. Having said that, the launch price is lower than that of the Pixel 8a’s last year, and you get double the storage too. There is still scope for the price to be a bit more competitive at launch and not just in sales months later.

The Pixel 9a is a good phone overall despite missing a couple of camera features of its more expensive siblings. In addition to a reliable camera performance, you get more than competent processing hardware in the Tensor G4 whose performance seems to have improved over the past few months, the most fluid and clean Android experience and 7 years of software updates since launch. If you can tolerate slow charging and thick bezels, the Pixel 9a is a pretty good option in the sub-50K segment, and would be an even better buy once the price drops closer to Rs 40,000.