For years, Google has released an A series line of Pixel phones that deliver a lot of features for less money than their more expensive counterparts, and 2026 is no exception. The company's newly announced Pixel 10A is a capable addition to the Pixel 10 lineup and it starts at only $499 (the base Pixel 10, on the other hand, starts at $799). 

There are tradeoffs made in the 10A to hit its lower price, but compared to its predecessors, the 10A is quite the upgrade. Well, sort of. While the 10A is an improvement over the Pixel 7A and 8A, it's not too different from the Pixel 9A. 

Watch this: Google's $499 Pixel 10A Launches with AirDrop Support and Faster Charging

03:35

We'd say 98% of the 10A and its features are the same as the 9A, including the use of Google's Tensor G4 chip. However the Pixel 10A does include some new hardware improvements, including faster wired charging and Satellite SOS.

Here's how the Pixel 10A compares with the 9A, the 8A and the 7A. 

Pixel 9A vs 10 series: Display and design

The Pixel 10A looks and feels similar to the Pixel 9A. It has the same measurements, at 6.1 by 2.9 by 0.4 inches. It also has the same display: 6.3-inch OLED with a 60 to 120Hz variable refresh rate. The 8A and the 7A both have slightly smaller 6.1-inch OLED screens, and the 7A's display variable refresh rate caps out at 90Hz. 

One of the upgrades that the 10A has over the rest of the lineup is that the display glass is Corning Gorilla Glass 7i, which offers better drop and scratch performance over its predecessors. The 9A, 8A and 7A all use Gorilla Glass 3. The 10A is also the brightest of the lot with 3,000 nits of peak brightness. The 9A tops out at 2,700 nits, the 8A at 1,500 nits and the 7A at just 1,000 nits. 

The 10A has much better contrast as well, with a 2,000,000:1 ratio compared to the 9A's 1,000,000:1 ratio. This should mean that the display will look better with brighter whites and darker black. Both the 8A and 7A have the same contrast ratio as the 9A. 

Pixel 9A vs 10 series: Battery

Both the Pixel 10A and the 9A ship with a 5,100-mAh battery, which has a larger capacity than the 8A's 4,492-mAh and the 7A's 4,385-mAh battery. However, in our tests, we found that the Pixel 9A's 5,100-mAh battery lasted about the same as the 8A, due in part to the 9A's bigger, brighter screen and its more powerful processor. It remains to be seen if the 10A will have the same fate. 

The 10A does have faster 30W wired charging when using a 45W adapter compared to the 23W speed on the 9A. (Both the 8A and 7A have 18W fast charging.) It also supports wireless charging up to 10W (Qi-certified) while the 9A, 8A and 7A have 7.5W wireless charging. 

Pixel 9A vs 10 series: Performance and connectivity

The Pixel 10A and 9A are both powered by Google's Tensor G4 chip, so there aren't a lot of changes there. The 8A is powered by Google's Tensor G3 chip while the 7A uses the Tensor G2. 

As for connectivity, however, the 10A does have a couple of upgrades that the 9A lacks. The Pixel 10A has Satellite SOS, which the 9A doesn't have. This service lets 10A users send SMS messages to emergency services. The 10A also has Bluetooth 6, while the 9A only has 5.3. Bluetooth 6 promises to reduce latency while also being more power-efficient. 

Check out the below chart to further compare the differences between the Pixel 10A, 9A, 8A and 7A.