Google Pixel 9A

In a market flooded with triple and quadruple camera systems, phones like the Pixel 9a and iPhone 16e prove you can get good photos with fewer cameras as well. The Pixel 9a is equipped with a 48MP primary sensor with an f/1.7 aperture and a 13MP wide-angle lens. With just the two sensors, the Pixel 9a delivers impressive photos in daylight and indoor settings. Photos captured using the primary camera offer good exposure, attractive colour reproduction and fine details. The autofocus is fast and reliable, and videos have good stability and dynamic range.However, the camera doesn't do extremely well in low light conditions, lacking details and allowing more noise than other phones in this price range.

The same Tensor G4 chipset that powered last year's Pixel 9 series also powers the Pixel 9a, a trend similar to the Pixel 8 series. From a raw performance perspective, we already had a good idea of what to expect, having tested the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, and Pixel 9 Pro XL last year. The chipset didn't impress in synthetic benchmark tests, being soundly outscored by last year's flagship processors like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and MediaTek Dimensity 9300. While this may have disappointed buyers in the flagship segment, these scores look more competitive in the sub-Rs 50,000 segment where the Pixel 9a sits.As you can see, the Pixel 9a doesn't win against its rivals in synthetic benchmarks, but its numbers aren't too bad either. In real-world usage, the Pixel 9a handles day-to-day tasks almost as well as any other phone in this price segment, though you might notice some stutters while scrolling through the UI or certain apps. This is largely due to Google forcing a lower refresh rate, perhaps to save battery life, which tends to make the phone feel a little sluggish. While the Pixel 9a supports up to 120Hz refresh rates, it largely limits the UI and apps like Gmail to 60Hz.Notably, the Pixel 9a delivered solid numbers in our 90-minute gaming test. It consistently maintained high FPS (frames per second) in demanding titles like BGMI, COD Mobile, and Real Racing 3, while keeping battery consumption in check. After 90 minutes of intensive gaming, the battery dropped by just 6 per cent, on par with most rivals in the segment. In BGMI, it averaged 39 FPS over 30 minutes with HDR graphics and Ultra frame rates.Software has always been the Pixel's strong suit, and that doesn't change with the Pixel 9a. You get Android 15 out of the box with a promise of seven years of major software updates and seven years of security patches, ensuring the phone is protected and relevant until 2032, as far as software is concerned.The Pixel 9a's Android 15 interface is as clean and stock as it can be. You get a total of 36 pre-installed apps when you set up the phone, with no third-party apps whatsoever. This will seem more impressive in the table below, which shows the number of pre-installed and third-party apps that you get out of the box on rival phones.The Pixel 9a comes with only 8GB of RAM, which is sufficient for daily usage but may fall short for certain processing-heavy AI features. This is why Google hasn't included its full suite of AI capabilities in the Pixel 9a. Due to its lower RAM capacity, the Pixel 9a misses out on features like Pixel Screenshots and Call Notes - AI tools available on the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro. However, you still get access to Gemini and Gemini Live at the click of a button, along with select photo editing and image generation tools, including the Pixel Studio app.

Google has bumped the battery in the Pixel 9a to a 5,100mAh cell from the Pixel 8a's 4,492mAh unit. Meanwhile, charging speed has been marginally improved to 23W from 18W, which is still considerably slow compared to today's standard. Rivals in this segment offer charging speeds of around 80W to 120W. In the real world, this translates to over 80 minutes to charge the Pixel 9a from 20 to 100 percent. Plus, Google does not ship an adapter with the device, though you do get a Type-C cable in the box.Battery life of the Pixel 9a is quite reliable thanks to a bigger battery cell. The phone can comfortably last a full day with enough left in the tank to stay alive overnight. You will need to plug it in once before bed or when you wake up for the day ahead, but you won't face the same battery woes you did if you used the Pixel 8a.