The Google Pixel 9a is Google's best chance to get Pixel prices under control, given that the company has increased the price of its mainline Pixel series by $100 for two years in a row. During those two years, the Pixel A-series regularly impressed with annual improvements that make it feel like a mainline pixel despite the reduced price.
But there's always room for improvement and differentiation. Only a few rumors for the Pixel 9a currently exist—and only one design leak for now—although it's also possible that Google may ditch the A-series completely. However, we can still speculate on Google's 2025 mid-range phone by looking at the past to get a clearer view of the future.
Google Pixel 9a: Price and availability
Last year, one analyst noted that the Pixel 8a wouldn't exist, but that clearly didn't pan out. So far, we have rumors that the Pixel 9a exists and will feature a bigger display than the Pixel 8a, but a few trends with the Pixel family seem to be telling a bigger picture.
This year, Google expanded its lineup of phones with the release of the Pixel 9, which includes four different models: The Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold. But contrary to what some folks thought, Google hasn't released a true budget Pixel 9 phone yet, leaving room for a future Pixel 9a.
Google once again raised prices of its Pixel phones year-over-year, adding $100 to each model. That means there's an ideal spot for a Pixel 9a to take over at $499 or so, as it would be several hundred dollars cheaper than the $799 Pixel 9, the cheapest current model.
Google Pixel 9a: Design and displays
Historically, the Pixel A-series has used a design similar to that of the main series, but with a few tweaks. In the Pixel 8a's case, the corners had a slightly wider curve than the Pixel 8 series, making it even more of a squircle.
Google took a massively different design direction with the Pixel 9 series, dropping the friendly curves of the last four Pixel releases and going for a much more industrial design. In a way, it looks a lot like if you took a Pixel 4 and mixed it with an iPhone 15.
But the only Pixel 9a leak we have so far shows that the phone could look very different from what we expect.
If this leak is to be believed, the Pixel 9a will look more like a Nothing Phone 2a or the old Essential PH1 than the mainline Pixel 9 series. Given that Google raised the prices of the main series by $100, this would give the company the perfect excuse to keep the price of the Pixel 9a low while maintaining that it's a budget line with a cheaper-looking design.
Since we have no other rumors or leaks about the design just yet, we're going to take this one with a grain of salt, but it's fun to speculate and see the direction Google might take the Pixel 9a in.
Google Pixel 9a: Cameras
The Pixel A-series began with the Pixel 3a and Google used the same camera modules from that phone through the Pixel 6a. The Pixel 7a featured the first camera sensor upgrade in the series' history, and the Pixel 8a uses the same camera modules as that phone.
That being said, there's little reason to expect Google to upgrade the cameras on a potential Pixel 9a because it needs to cut costs somewhere to keep the phone's price reasonable. Given that the Pixel A-series already has the best cameras of any budget-minded phone, there's little incentive for Google to change things up.
If a rumor or leak appears showing the opposite, we'll absolutely be updating this section.
Google Pixel 9a: Specs and performance
The Google Pixel 9a should use the same Google Tensor G4 processor as the Pixel 9 is rumored to use. While this is an assumption, of course, it would logically follow that Google would use the same processor in all phones with the Pixel 9 moniker as it has historically shared the same processor across the Pixel line in any given generation since the Pixel 6a.
That means the Pixel 9a would use the same processor as the more expensive Pixel 9 Fold and Pixel 9 Pro XL, despite the huge price gap that's likely to occur.
Tensor G4 is only a minor upgrade over the Tensor G3 in most respects, although it's capable of processing AI-related tasks 2.25x faster than other leading flagship processors. It also runs quite a bit cooler than the Tensor G3 but at the expense of being slower in gaming and other heavier graphics processing-based scenarios.
Google is not expected to deliver a massive upgrade to its Tensor line until Tensor G5, currently slated for the 2025 release of the Pixel 10 series.
The Pixel 9a would likely ship with the Tensor G4 processor, which is only a minor upgrade over the Tensor G3 inside the Pixel 8a.
There are no other rumors or leaks about Pixel 9a specs at this time. It's highly unlikely that we'll see many major upgrades for Pixel 9a components since Google just upgraded most of the requested items — like the display refresh rate — in the Pixel 8a.
Google Pixel 9a: Wishlist
As with any new phone, there are a few things we'd love to see Google improve on the Pixel 9a over existing phones like the Pixel 8a.
A lower-priced option
The Pixel 6a, 7a, and 8a are all great phones that offer a lot of value, but a $450-500 phone is still financially out of reach for a lot of people. In fact, the Galaxy A-series makes up the bulk of the sales for Samsung. Google's Pixel market share continues to grow, and there's little doubt the Pixel A-series has a big part in this.
How much more could it grow, then, if Google offered a truly budget-priced model? We're talking something under $300 that could still offer the Pixel experience, even if it had to cut back on some of the more premium features of the Pixel series — like the latest Google Tensor processors or upgraded camera modules.
Keep the Tensor
Having a chip like the Tensor G4 inside a mid-range phone like the Google Pixel 9a is downright incredible. One of the best reasons to buy a Pixel A-series phone over the rest of the $450-500 competition is the processor, as it's far better than anything you'll likely ever find at that price range. We're hoping the Tensor G4 comes in the Pixel 9a, as we expect it will.
A real dark mode
Dark mode is a lie on more phones than I'd like. Unfortunately for Pixel owners, the Pixel is one of the worst offenders of this sin. I'd love to see Google give users a proper "lights out" dark mode where the background is completely black instead of this dark grey nonsense Google has been using for years.
It'll both be better for battery life and help with the next request!
Flicker-reduction option
As the nits delivered by displays continue to grow higher and higher each year, more companies are using OLED displays that don't dim in a traditional way. Instead, they use Pulse Width Modulation (or PWM), and people like me are, unfortunately, very sensitive to this kind of display flickering.
While we have some tips and tricks for PWM-sensitive folks, the best solution is for manufacturers to offer a flicker-reduction option. Companies like Motorola and OnePlus offer anti-flicker solutions on their phones, and we know Google can do it if they really wanted to.
Faster charging
Google has largely been using the same 18W charging speed for its phones since the inception of the Pixel line. While it upgraded the Pixel 7 and Pixel 8 to 30W, the Pixel 8a still only supports 18W charging.
Phones like the OnePlus 12R, which costs the same $499 as the Pixel 8a, offer 100W wired charging at the expense of removing wireless charging. Considering how truly slow (and probably useless) 7.5W wireless charging is, I'd be happy to see wireless charging go away if it meant we could get faster wired charging.
