With affordable phones like this, who needs flagships? The Pixel 9a is all the essentials (and AI) packed into a friendlier price point.Every year, Google’s Pixel A-series reminds me that I did not have to pay all that cash for the Pro variant to live a good life. The Pixel 9a may have been delayed coming out of the gate, but it remains one of the best deals in the business.
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For $500, you get a bona fide Pixel device in two optional stunning colorways, the same Tensor processor as the rest of the Pixel 9 lineup, wireless charging, and access to Google’s numerous AI tricks. One feature that’s notably missing is a camera zoom capability.
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However, the absence of that on most devices at this price is a reminder that it’s not an essential need for a smartphone.It’s interesting to compare the Pixel 9a to Apple’s iPhone 16e, which claims to offer a similar “essential” flagship experience but for the walled garden crowd. The iPhone 16e seemed modeled after Google’s formula with the A-series over the last six generations, and right now both have a lot of small AI features that are meant to be big selling points.