Google today fully detailed and opened pre-orders for its 2026 A-Series phone. After briefly checking it out in person, the Pixel 10a is my platonic ideal of a smartphone.
Not having a camera bump or other protrusion actually sets Pixel design apart. This entirely flat phone makes for a nice physical object and form. It’s clean and feels like you’re just holding a screen.
After using the Pixel 9a, I wasn’t necessarily asking Google to go any flatter, but I’m glad they went all the way. While minimal last year, there is now zero wiggle when you place the Pixel 10a on a table, and that’s just refreshing.
The “camera bar” — as Google officially calls it — is actually on a layer below the matte rear. It’s likely for the best that the glass is not flush with the plastic rear, though you can’t really tell that’s the case without running your finger over it.
Pixel 10a vs. 9a
It’s available in a standard Obsidian, while the greenish Fog is a bit too subtle. Lavender is bolder than last year’s Iris, while there’s almost a neon-esque quality to Berry. I wanted to love this red, but it’s ultimately too flashy for me. I’d almost equate it to international orange, with my fear being that people will be drawn to it the moment you take it out of your pocket.
On the front, you’ll find Gorilla Glass 7i after years of Gorilla Glass 3 in the A-Series for better scratch and drop resistance. Paired with IP68 water/dust protection and satin aluminum frame, Google says the Pixel 10a is its most durable A-Series device.
Physically, the Pixel 10a is 0.8 mm shorter and 0.3 mm narrower but 0.1 mm thicker — 153.9 mm (height) x 73.0 mm (width) x 9.0 mm (depth) — compared to last year. It’s also lighter by 2.9 grams, or 0.1 oz.
The battery is identical at 5100 mAh (typical) or over 30 hours of usage, but Extreme Battery Saver is now 120 (instead of 100) hours. Wired charging goes from 27W to 30W, while it’s 7.5W to 10W for wireless.
Unfortunately, the Pixel 10a omits Pixelsnap magnets to meet the affordable price, and is my biggest disappointment. Once you’ve used it and bought into the Qi2 ecosystem, it’s hard to go back, though that’s less of an issue if your last phone lacked it.
It’s still a 6.3-inch Actua display (1080 x 2424 pOLED) with a 60-120Hz refresh rate, but the brightness is now up to 2000 nits (HDR) and 3000 nits (peak) compared to 1800 and 2700 nits, respectively. Google also made the bezels about 10% slimmer and more uniform. If you’re going from a flagship to an A-Series, you’ll notice the thicker bezels for a day or two. However, you’ll quickly acclimate and stop noticing the difference.
Pixel 9a vs. 10a
The Pixel 10a is powered by the Tensor G4 with 8 GB of RAM, just like the previous A-Series. In a first for the Tensor A-Series, Google is not using the same chip (family) as the current flagship. Affordability was cited as the main reason why. As such, this isn’t TSMC’s 3 nm process with CPU and TPU improvements. That’s paired with 128 or 256 GB of storage.
New to the A-Series is Satellite SOS thanks to a modem upgrade to Samsung’s Exynos 5400 (just like the Pixel 10 series), with Google offering a two-year free trial to reach emergency services when there’s no cellular connectivity. There’s also a small upgrade to Bluetooth 6 (from 5.3), while Google also announced Pixel Buds 2a in Fog and Berry.
These are the same 48 MP main and 13 MP ultrawide (120°) cameras, as well as the 13 MP front-facer. Pixel 10 features coming to the Pixel 10a include Auto Best Take to choose the perfect expression or moment for group shots, while Camera Coach has Gemini (models) read the scene and help guide your capture.
Launching with Android 16, you get seven years of OS, security, and Pixel Drop updates. The Pixel 10a features Quick Share support with Apple’s AirDrop out of the box.
The Pixel 10a is Google meaningfully refining last year’s good design to take it to its logical conclusion. Frankly, I think we’re seeing the future of Pixel design.
Similarly, there are meaningful hardware improvements across the display, charging, and modem. Gorilla Glass 7i might be the biggest upgrade for the phone’s longevity.
Google not being able to fit in the latest Tensor chip in the Pixel 10a is unfortunate but fine as on-device AI features aren’t make-or-break yet. They can get away with this once in their roadmap. However, the exclusion of Pixelsnap is horrible from a future-proofing standpoint if you plan on keeping this phone for a while.
The Pixel 10a will be available on March 5 at the Google Store and other retailers for $499 (128 GB) and $599 (256 GB).
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