Pound-for-pound, the Google Pixel 9a is our favourite midrange telephone as we speak. Certain, there are telephones that value much less, however at $500, the Pixel 9a affords a top quality expertise that matches and even bests what you’d get from an Android flagship simply a few years in the past.
Whereas the 9a largely nails the basics — it boasts quick efficiency, first rate cameras, and phenomenal battery life — there’s nonetheless a lot to enhance across the margins. We’re anticipating Google will launch a Pixel 10a that improves on the 9a’s method someday in the midst of 2026. It is early to invest what that telephone will truly be like when it arrives, however having spent a while with the 9a, we have our hopes. Listed here are 5 enhancements I need to see Google make in subsequent yr’s Pixel 10a.
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Google’s Pixel 9a is the perfect $500 you possibly can spend on a smartphone proper now
That is the way you nail your necessities
1
Thinner bezels
Given every thing the Pixel 9a does proper, I am not too aggravated at its chunky show bezels; Google needed to reduce some corners to supply the 9a on the similar $500 worth level that each the 8a and 7a carried, and a thicker-than-average border across the display is comparatively inoffensive.
Nonetheless, we’re speaking year-over-year enhancements, and the bezel is an apparent place to start out. It is about 4mm thick on the Pixel 9a, significantly thicker than what you may discover on higher-end units. I would not anticipate the 10a to match one thing just like the Galaxy S25‘s razor-thin bezels, however shaving only a millimeter off would make all of the distinction right here.
2
Higher show glass
Whereas we’re on the show: a future Pixel 10a may actually stand a show glass improve. The Pixel 9a has Gorilla Glass 3 coating its display, a model of Corning’s extra-durable glass launched in 2013. It will get the job executed, however telephone glass has come a great distance prior to now 13 years.
Corning’s newer glasses are extra proof against shattering than older variations, so an improve to the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 used on the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Professional, and even the marginally older first-gen Victus, would make the Pixel 10a meaningfully extra sturdy than older fashions.
3
Sooner charging
None of Google’s units are precisely industry-leading with regards to charging charges, however the Pixel 9a is very sluggish to prime up. Wired charging is capped at 23 watts, and wi-fi solely pulls as much as 7.5 watts. The bottom Pixel 9 is not all that a lot faster, with 27-watt wired charging and as much as 15 watts wi-fi when utilizing the Pixel Stand 2 wi-fi charger.
For comparability’s sake, the $599 OnePlus 13R can pull as much as 80 watts wired with OnePlus’s proprietary charger. Even when Google would not swing for the fences right here, a future Pixel 10a would ideally no less than match the modest charging charges supplied by the usual Pixel 9.
4
Extra RAM
The Pixel 9a’s received eight gigs of RAM. That implies that it might probably’t pull off a number of the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Professional’s native AI methods — for instance, the Pixel 9a would not have entry to Google’s Screenshots app, which is powered by an area Gemini mannequin on the Pixel 9 and 9 Professional.
I do not suppose 9a customers are lacking a lot when it comes to AI; I by no means use any of the AI options my Pixel 9 Professional’s 12 gigs of RAM allow. However Google’s A-series Pixel telephones carry the identical seven-year replace promise as its flagships, and a Pixel 10a with 12 gigs of RAM has a greater probability of truly being usable for seven years than the Pixel 9a does. I anticipate the 9a’s RAM will begin to be a usability bottleneck earlier than software program updates are, and it might be good to see the following technology keep away from that pitfall.
5
An ultrasonic fingerprint sensor
The Pixel 9a has an optical fingerprint sensor that shines mild in your fingertip and basically makes use of a specialised digicam sensor to learn your fingerprint. It is purposeful, however there’s a greater different: an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor.
Ultrasonic sensors use inaudible sound waves to learn your fingertip’s topography. They’re typically quicker, they usually are inclined to work higher in instances the place your finger is moist or soiled. On prime of that, they’re extra nice to make use of at the hours of darkness, since they do not depend on shining a vibrant mild on and round your fingertip to unlock your telephone.
How a lot better can a $500 telephone get?
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The Pixel 9a is very spectacular for its $500 price ticket — and it is truly the third Pixel A-series telephone in a row to hit cabinets at that very same worth. A generational worth hike is beginning to really feel inevitable. The Pixel 10a launching at one thing like $550 would really feel truthful if we received a few these enhancements. If Google ticked all these bins, it’d probably make for an excellent pricier machine. Whether or not that’d be good is determined by your priorities: ought to the Pixel 10a be a stable midrange choice, or extra of an entry-level flagship?
There’s fairly some time to go earlier than we all know whether or not Google has any of those enhancements deliberate for the 10a — this yr’s 9a has solely been obtainable a couple of weeks, so we’re practically a yr out from a possible 10a. Nonetheless, we will hope.