Google’s Pixel 9a
Ewan Spence
Google’s Pixel 10 family kicked off a wave of Android 16 powered smartphones wen they launched in August and herald Google’s next steps in mobile AI and introducing a building block of an agentic-ai user interface. Yet there’s one more Pixel 10 handset to be released. When will see what the disruptive Pixel 10a is bringing to the market?
The Pixel 10a And The Tensor Mobile’s Promise Of Power
The Pixel A series is essentially the mid-range smartphone of the Pixel family. They echo many of the tastes and trends of the both the vanilla and the Pro models of the family, although some compromises in specs and construction are made to bring the price down.
One of the key similarities is in the main chipset; since the Pixel 6a, the A series have all shipped with the same Tensor Mobile as the more expensive devices. You should expect the Pixel 10a to come with the same Tensor G5 silicon as the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL and Pixel 10 Pro Fold.
Given Google’s focus on artificial intelligence and optimising the Pixel smartphones for day-to-day use rather than ultimate power, the core functionality remains.
The Pixel 10a Camera Potential
The Pixel A cameras have been an area where the balance of power and value for money can be apparent. Last year’s Pixel 9a main camera lens was he same as that of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and adde a 13 megapixel ultrawide camera lens into the mix.
If the Pixel 10a follows a similar route of using the 10 Pro Fold’s camera components, and the same approach to color realism and dynamic contrast, then the package is going to be one of the better ones in the mid-range. Of course a notable majority of photography in smartphones comes down to the software and here the emphasis on local AI processing will be of benefit to post-processing of images and any subsequent editing by the user.
In a head to head the more camera focused Pixel 10, 10 Pro, and 10 Pro XL models will offer higher quality images, but with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold delivering above-average results, I’d expect similar specs and output on the Pixel 10a.
The Pixel 10a Price
There are compromises in some areas — such as the camera — to keep what Google considered important enough to be on a par with the main line; the aforementioned focus on artificial intelligence both in the cloud and on the device.
Given the Pixel 10 launched at the same price as the Pixel 9 ($799 in the US), there’s a strong chance that the Pixel 9a’s price of $499 will carry over to the Pixel 10a (These are all for the 128 GB variants).
If you look at what that £300 gave you on the Pixel 9 versus the Pixel 9a, you find that you have a premium feel to the materials and design, an improved camera, with everything else broadly similar. There’s a strong argument to wait for the Pixel 10a if you are looking for a straightforward phone with 2025 specs.
The Pixel 10a And The iPhone 17e
The Pixel 8a was launched in May 2024, while the Pixel 9a arrived two months earlier with a mid-March launch. These have to be seen in context with the respective Pixel 8 family and Pixel 9 family launches. Given that, it’s likely that the Pixel 10a will be revealed during march, with sales commencing shortly afterwards.
There’a also an interesting question over the competition that Google will face. Last march saw Apple remove the mid-range focused iPhone SE from its product line and launched the iPhone 16e in the same period as the Pixel 9a. That resulted in countless head-to-head comparisons with many giving the nod to the Pixel 9a as the better choice given the price, camera, and hardware specifications.
Will Apple have an iPhone 17e ready to go, or will the iPhone 16e, much like the iPhone SE it replaced, stay on as the mid-range phone in Apple’s portfolio? Or will the Pixel 10a rule the mid-range roost as the unopposed champion?
Now read the latest deals and special offers Google has for new Pixel customers…