Is It Possible To Tell the Pixel 10a and Pixel 9a Apart?

Google's Pixel 10a is finally here

and it's pretty identical to the Pixel 9a.

Seriously, it's almost the same. Let's take a look.

Visually, they look nearly identical.

The biggest difference you'll notice

is that the Pixel 9a has a little plastic ring

around the camera module.

That's no longer the case.

So the Pixel 10a is even more flush

for anyone who, you know, really hates having a camera bump.

Over on the display,

the bezels are slightly more uniform and thinner.

When I mean identical, the specs are almost identical.

Like, this phone has the same exact Tensor G4 chip

as the Pixel 9a.

That's breaking a tradition where Google used to use

the chip from the flagship phone that it just announced.

So typically, you would've expected this

to have the Tensor G5 from the Pixel 10.

Nope, we're going with the old chip.

Same amount of RAM

and pretty much everything else is identical,

from the 5100 milliamp powered battery cell

to the 6.3 inch AMD screen.

There are some minor changes.

For example, the display gets a little bit brighter,

the charging is faster, so there's 30 watt wired charging,

10 watt wireless charging.

Still no Pixelsnap, so there's no magnetic connection

that Google introduced on the Pixel 10 series.

Even though the camera hardware is the same,

the Pixel 10a will get some new camera software features

as the Pixel 10.

So Camera Coach for example, Auto Best Take.

Unfortunately, Google isn't commenting yet

on whether these features that are coming to the Pixel 10a

will be available on the Pixel 9a.

Considering it's the same hardware,

it should be able to run it,

but probably in a future Pixel drop.

even if the Pixel 10 A doesn't have much new,

it still is a pretty competitive phone, at least in the US,

and it should still hold up in terms of performance,

battery life, camera capabilities for that 499 price.

However, the Pixel 9a will probably see

even deeper discounts,

so it's probably better value to just go for that.

Apple is also expected to come out

with its own refreshed mid-range iPhone,

the iPhone 17e very, very soon.

So it'll be interesting to see how much Apple changes

compared to Google.