Why Does the Google Pixel 10A Exist?
I’m not entirely sure why the Pixel 10A exists.
Google hasn’t upgraded the chipset, cameras, or battery in the new phone, and the tweaks it’s made elsewhere are minimal at best. The flatter camera island is good, I guess! In one sense, this isn’t a big problem: The Pixel 9A is an excellent device and has been regarded as one of the best phones you could buy for $500 in the US. The new 10A is available to buy now at the same competitive price ($499 for 128GB of storage or $100 more for 256GB). However, with the Pixel 9A still on sale and dropping in price, one big question emerges: Why not just buy the 9A — which is almost the same phone — for $50 less?
The Good
- The flush camera looks and feels great
- Seven years of software updates
- Satellite SOS support
The Bad
- It’s essentially the Pixel 9A again
- The Pixel 9A is cheaper
- Many suggest you should just buy the Pixel 9A
When Google first showed me the 10A, I struggled to get a good sense of what exactly had changed, so I pored over the spec sheets to lay out every hardware change Google has made, no matter how small. Here are the differences:
- The 10A is 3g lighter than the 9A and fractionally shorter and slimmer, resulting in a slightly thinner bezel around the screen.
- The cameras are entirely flush with the body, not just almost flush.
- The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i, compared to Gorilla Glass 3.
- The display is 300 nits brighter at peak brightness and features higher contrast.
- The 10A has 30W wired and 10W wireless charging, up from 23W wired and 7.5W wireless.
- The 10A supports Bluetooth 6.0, compared to 5.3 on the 9A.
- The 10A supports Satellite SOS.
- It comes in new color options.
That’s not a whole lot, and none of these features feel like game-changers, except perhaps the introduction of Satellite SOS, which allows you to contact emergency services when outside of cell coverage. If that, or maybe the slightly faster charging, is enough to sway you to the 10A, great! I think you might be in the minority.
The exterior updates are subtle but welcome. Last year’s 9A dropped Google’s usual camera bar in favor of a smaller camera that just barely rose out of the phone’s back. In the 10A, Google has pushed this design further, making the phone slightly thicker so that the camera is now not only flush with the body but also slightly recessed inside.
This design is a fresh counterpoint to the bulging cameras on other smartphones that boast larger ambitions. Many justify their designs with cutting-edge camera hardware, while Google has opted for older sensors and focused on software photography. Therefore, I applaud the decision for the least obtrusive camera design on any smartphone currently available.
The phone as a whole looks great, even if the design isn’t especially novel. It’s simple, sleek, and comfortable to hold in one hand. It’s slightly larger than the $799 Pixel 10, despite using a similar 6.3-inch display, but the 10A is noticeably lighter, which compensates for the extra size. My black model — or, as Google calls it, obsidian — feels a bit conservative, but the berry and lavender versions look fantastic if you prefer a pop of color.
The Pixel 10A carries over the same 5,100mAh battery as the 9A, though Google claims the phone can last an additional 20 hours in its Extreme Battery Mode. This improvement is presumably due to software optimization, but during a press briefing, Google declined to comment on whether the 9A would receive these same optimizations. Regardless, the battery is sizeable enough to last a full day but not two, which is generally acceptable. The slightly faster charging speeds are a welcome addition, even if they still lag behind many Android alternatives — and Google didn’t extend the Pixel 10 line’s Qi2 magnets down to the 10A, which could have felt like a worthwhile upgrade.
Operating on the same Tensor G4 chipset as last year’s 9A, the phone is fast enough for day-to-day functionality, even if it doesn’t match the speed of the most powerful processors on the market. Google’s decision not to upgrade the chip feels a little stingy a year later, but it is likely to only become a concern if you’re in search of a gaming phone (which this isn’t) or plan to keep it for the duration of the seven years of OS updates; by then, the G4 will be nine years old.
Moreover, the cameras are also retained from the 9A, which is predictable in hindsight. Google’s smartphone lineup features the same 48-megapixel main and 13-megapixel ultrawide cameras as seen in the 9A and the Pixel 10. While these cameras have been good in the Pixel 10, for a $499 phone, you can hardly complain. Google’s relatively natural processing is particularly strong at night, resisting the temptation to over-brighten. However, the small sensors run into limits in low light, producing some noise and blown-out lights, especially on the ultrawide lens. Nevertheless, few cameras exceed this quality at this price point, particularly in the US, where you would usually need to spend a few hundred dollars more for a meaningful upgrade.
Interestingly, the camera features two software additions on the 10A that are absent from the 9A: Camera Coach and Auto Best Take. Camera Coach is an AI feature that provides step-by-step instructions for framing a photo, though most guidance boils down to “zoom in to focus on the subject.” Frequently, it encounters errors and simply fails to work when attempted. Auto Best Take works similarly to the existing Best Take feature, blending photos of groups to capture the best expressions from each individual. Neither of these features seems to provide compelling reasons to choose the 10A over the 9A, and during a press briefing, Google didn’t confirm whether they would remain exclusive or roll out to the 9A in future updates.
Admittedly, while I’m criticizing how little has changed, let’s be fair: This phone is aesthetically pleasing.
We’ve seen several exceedingly iterative phone updates recently: Samsung’s Galaxy S26 and Apple’s iPhone 17E, which mostly add incremental improvements like MagSafe and additional storage. However, both of these releases surpass the Pixel 10A, as they at least implement some changes.
The irony is that the Pixel 10A is still the best midrange phone in the US currently, and one of the more acceptable options globally. This mostly reflects the state of the industry within this price range. In six months, when the Pixel 9A sells out its remaining stock, the 10A will be the best way to spend $500 on a phone. Yet, while last year’s model remains available, Google’s most significant competitor is Google itself.
Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge
For more information on the Google Pixel 10A, visit Here.
Image Credit: www.theverge.com
