If I needed to give one phrase of recommendation to anybody eyeing the Pixel 10a for his or her subsequent buy in 2026, it might be this: do not.
Caught between rising prices and the necessity to preserve its prospects engaged, Google has all however renamed the Pixel 9a and offered it in a brand new package deal.
It is more likely to develop into this 12 months’s largest smartphone flop, however there is a tiny characteristic that makes all of the distinction when selecting between the Pixel 10a and different midrange Android telephones in 2026.
I nonetheless cannot wholly suggest the Pixel 10a at launch. You may choose up the Pixel 9a for considerably cheaper, and the expertise can be principally indistinguishable.
Whereas I am positive Google will make an enormous tune and dance a few new software program trick on the Pixel 10a, I extremely doubt it’ll make the cellphone price shopping for.
However a couple of months down the road, when second-hand fashions begin showing available on the market, I believe the Pixel 10a would be the midrange cellphone to get, and it is all all the way down to a characteristic that is been bugging me since my first smartphone.
A really flat digicam bar is a welcome salve after years of pointless digicam upgrades
Practicality first is a welcome strategy
I do not get pleasure from pictures. I am conscious of sufficient smartphone pictures tricks to elevate my snaps above the common, however I’ve lengthy understood that it is a self-discipline I’ll by no means wish to grasp.
Taking photographs which might be “adequate” is all I must get me by every week.
Nevertheless, the catch is that I additionally get pleasure from making an attempt out the most recent smartphone {hardware}. So having to pay a premium for a characteristic I do not take care of is deeply irritating, particularly when it impacts the remainder of my cellphone.
Here is a photograph I took of my household’s outdated cat. I captured this shot on an LG Spirit H440n in 2015, however I’d be completely comfortable to share the identical picture right this moment (as certainly I do a couple of instances a 12 months).
I do not want the most recent digicam system when smartphone cameras have been adequate for years.
That is the side of the Pixel A-series that has all the time appealed to me. Close to similar {hardware} to Google’s flagship Pixel fashions, however with a stripped-down digicam system.
If I did not discover the Professional mannequin helpful for my work, I’d possible be rocking one proper now as a day by day driver.
The Pixel 10a’s digicam is precisely what I would like. It is similar to the Pixel 9a’s digicam, which was solely marginally higher than 2024’s Pixel 8a. A digicam system that may have felt new three years in the past is precisely what I would like.
However this is not the characteristic of the Pixel 10a’s digicam that appeals to me. It is a utterly flat lens.
The sturdiest digicam because the unique Pixel
You may not want a case for this cellphone
Watch Google’s announcement video for the Pixel 10a, and you will discover what Google is not-so-subtly making an attempt to let you know. The Pixel 10a has a very flat again.
In contrast to the Pixel 9a’s lenses, which caught out ever-so-slightly from the rear of the cellphone, the Pixel 10a’s lenses sit utterly flush with the cellphone’s backplate.
It is a characteristic that we final noticed on the Pixel 1. Each Pixel cellphone since has provided protruding lenses.
I hate protruding digicam lenses. They gather mud, are inclined to wreck, and make it not possible to set your cellphone down with out tapping the lens.
Shopping for a case helps stop harm, nevertheless it’s powerful to discover a slim case that does not compromise the digicam lens.
When a digicam lens is flush in opposition to the backplate of a cellphone, lint has nowhere to gather, and harm cannot happen until you handle to smack the lens instantly in opposition to a pointy object.
It is the perfect design for digicam lenses, however our quest for higher cameras and slimmer telephones has pressured producers to shelve this design in favor of the mutated growths that populate the rear of our telephones.
Is a flush digicam lens actually that massive a deal?
Sure, sure it’s
Whereas I get pleasure from enjoyable and thrilling smartphone options, it is practicality that issues above all.
The elimination of the digicam bar for the Pixel 9a, adopted by the flush again of the Pixel 10a, are my favourite design modifications ever for Pixel telephones.
When each cellphone appears to be adopting the identical digicam bar format began by the Pixel 6, it is refreshing to see a return to traditional and sensible smartphone design.
The Pixel 10a’s digicam bar is a silver lining on an in any other case bland and uninspiring cellphone. Does it make up for the remainder of the cellphone? No.
We wanted battery and charging upgrades on the very minimal to make it price shopping for at launch, so until there are some wonderful service offers, I nonetheless suggest giving it a miss.
Producers must pair sensible smartphone design with {hardware} upgrades
It is a disgrace that the flat digicam lens is the one factor I am enthusiastic about.
On reflection, it is a unhappy commentary on the state of contemporary smartphones when such a easy characteristic makes headlines.
If Google upgraded the storage and reminiscence on the Pixel 10a, I’d be first in line to choose one up. It is nice that it has final 12 months’s Tensor chip, however until Google conjures up one thing really exceptional on the final minute, I believe I will wait till 2027 to revisit the Pixel 10a.