Google Pixel 9a vs iPhone 16e: Which should you buy?

Apple lately made its grand (re)entrance to the mid-range smartphone market with the iPhone 16e, changing the older iPhone SE variant. In fact, now the one factor to do is see the way it compares to top-of-the-line mid-range smartphones round, the newly launched Google Pixel 9a.

Each telephones present a number of worth for these in search of a flagship-like expertise for a a lot lower cost, however there are advantages and disadvantages to every. Let’s get into it.

Google Pixel 9a vs. iPhone 16e

Two telephones enter, however just one can slot in your pocket. Which can or not it’s?

Value and specs

The Pixel 9a is a superb worth.
Credit score: Joe Maldonado/Mashable

With regards to value, there’s a clearly superior choice right here. The Pixel 9a begins at $499, whereas the iPhone 16e begins at $599. Whereas $100 is not the most important distinction on the planet of flagships, it is a big quantity for anybody available in the market for a price range cellphone.

This is what you get within the Pixel 9a for that value:

And for $100 extra, that is what the iPhone 16e will get you:

We’ll get into show and efficiency evaluation later, however Google is definitely profitable the worth recreation up to now. You get a much bigger and (in some methods) higher show and a much bigger battery for much less cash. Apple, to its credit score, gives extra storage choices, however these will solely make the cellphone much more costly; the 512GB iPhone 16e is $899, which makes it not even actually a price range cellphone anymore.

Design

Apple stored it easy.
Credit score: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Neither of those telephones are on the slicing fringe of smartphone design, however that is not essentially a foul factor.

The iPhone 16e, for its half, seems to be like a barely older iPhone mannequin. It does not have the standalone Dynamic Island cutout on the prime of the show such as you’d see in a latest flagship iPhone, as a substitute going for the traditional notch look. There is not any dwelling button, which differentiates it from the outdated iPhone SE fashions, however there is not one on the Pixel 9a, both. Sadly, it solely is available in two very boring colours: black and white.

Google’s mid-range cellphone is barely bolder in its design. Particularly, Google went and eliminated the horizontal rear digital camera bar that had turn into such an iconic a part of the Google Pixel look over the previous few years. Now, the rear digital camera is barely noticeable, missing even a bump to make it stand out. That is fairly good should you like your cellphone to lie fully flat on a desk, nevertheless it does make the Pixel 9a appear to be a generic cellphone prop in a TV present.

That stated, the Pixel 9a gives 4 colours, twice as many because the iPhone 16e. There are black and white choices, in addition to one known as “Iris” and a stunning pink colorway that needs to be the one one anybody buys, in my humble opinion.

Show

Google’s show is superior.
Credit score: Joe Maldonado/Mashable

In my eyes, there is a fairly definitive winner within the show class.

Pixel 9a’s show just isn’t solely barely greater (although that may truly be problematic for folk with smaller arms), however its refresh charge is twice as excessive. Not everybody values this as a lot as I do, however easy scrolling is very good to have on a smartphone, and it is a bit wild that Apple continues to be so behind the instances on this subject in the whole lot aside from iPhone Professional fashions. You additionally stand up to 2,700 nits of peak brightness, which makes it nice for outside use.

Apple’s panel is not unhealthy, by any means. Its 2532×1170 decision is barely larger than what Pixel 9a gives (2424×1080), and it’s an OLED display with HDR help. Nevertheless, with simply 1,200 nits of peak brightness, it doubtless will not look nearly as good underneath daylight because the Pixel 9a.

Efficiency

Apple went with USB-C for this one, which is sweet.
Credit score: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

With regards to efficiency, there actually is not a dropping alternative right here.

Each telephones are glorious when it comes to day-to-day use. Apps load shortly and neither cellphone slows down an excessive amount of when there are too many open. I did discover the Pixel 9a getting a bit heat to the contact after extended use, however a case might simply alleviate that.

If you wish to put it in numbers and technically select a winner, it could be Apple. The iPhone 16e’s Geekbench benchmarking metrics are higher than Pixel 9a’s, with Apple netting a 7,423 multi-core rating and Google coming in at simply 4,358. Nevertheless, on a sensible degree, both cellphone will do exactly high-quality for you.

Battery life

Each telephones have good battery life.
Credit score: Joe Maldonado/Mashable

Battery life is one other space the place you may solely win.

In my testing, the Pixel 9a was roughly a 24-hour machine between prices, and will most likely last more should you turned the refresh charge right down to 60Hz or took different power-saving measures. I by no means immediately examined the iPhone 16e myself, however our reviewer Stan Schroeder famous that he was in a position to go about two days between prices on what he described as “heavy use.”

It is doable, then, that the additional money you pay for the iPhone 16e is getting you a greater battery than what is out there on Pixel 9a. Nevertheless, I would not describe the Pixel 9a’s battery as “unhealthy” by any means. It is simply much less good.

Digital camera

The iPhone 16e takes good nighttime photographs.
Credit score: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

Each the iPhone 16e and Pixel 9a have an identical (when it comes to megapixels) 48MP primary shooters on the rear aspect. Nevertheless, Apple solely included the one digital camera lens on the cellphone’s bottom, whereas the Pixel 9a additionally has a further 13MP ultra-wide lens.

Since these are each price range telephones, cameras are the place the most important compromises are to be anticipated. That stated, you may positively get nice-looking photographs on both the Pixel 9a or iPhone 16e. One good bonus that the Pixel 9a has over the Pixel 8a is the addition of Macro Focus, which helps you to stand up actual near tiny objects and seize them in nice element. Sadly, the iPhone 16e does not have this function in any respect, because of the lack of an ultra-wide lens.

Provided that Google’s cellphone has that additional lens and no less than one function the iPhone 16e cannot declare, I am inclined to assume the Pixel 9a has a greater digital camera system.