Pixel 8a review: The mid-range Pixel with a flagship brain and a 7-year promise.
The value champion — seven years of updates for $499.
The Pixel 8a delivers flagship silicon, great cameras and a seven-year update promise at a mid-range price. Slow charging and Gorilla Glass 3 are the cost-savings you will notice.
01Display
84/10084/100 puts it above the 81-point average for mid-range phones of 2024.
02Camera
86/10086/100 puts it above the 83-point average for mid-range phones of 2024.
03Performance
81/10081/100 puts it above the 78-point average for mid-range phones of 2024.
04Battery
82/10082/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2024.
05Build
84/10084/100 puts it above the 81-point average for mid-range phones of 2024.
06Value
90/10090/100 puts it above the 87-point average for mid-range phones of 2024.
- Flagship Tensor G3 chip at $499.
- Seven years of OS updates — unmatched at this price.
- Excellent Pixel camera processing.
- 120 Hz OLED display.
- 18 W charging is slow.
- Older Gorilla Glass 3 on the front.
- Plastic back.
- No telephoto lens.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 3-phone cohort of mid-range devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .