One stands out with a stylish look, but the other beats it in almost any match-up.
It’s officially mid-range battle season, everyone.
In one corner, we have Motorola’s latest Edge (2025), which boasts a stunning design with a respectable triple camera and many AI features on board. It starts at $550 and comes with 256GB of slow storage.
In the other corner, Google’s small but mighty Pixel 9a excels with a faster chip, more capable camera, and much better battery life. This one starts at $500 for 128GB of faster storage.
Both are vying for the coveted spot in your pocket. Which to pick?
Moto Edge (2025) vs Google Pixel 9a differences explained:Table of Contents:
The Motorola Edge (2025) is one of the nicer-looking new mid-range phones released in 2025. Its curved display that gradually slopes towards the rear vegan leather back and the super-light build make this one a phone that you could very well fall in love with from the first touch.
The Google Pixel 9a is an uglier duckling in comparison, with its style slaving to the “function-over-form” mantra and featuring rather forgettable and unimpressive aesthetics. It is flat on all sides and has some of the thickest bezels we’ve seen in a while. This one isn’t winning any design awards.
Only the gently sloping camera island breaks the flow of the Motorola’s rear. One thing that we should commend Google for is the nearly flush camera assembly: a pretty pleasant surprise in the age of enormous camera islands.
The Moto Edge is definitely the more comfortable phone to use, despite the larger size. That’s due to the curved edges, which give off the impression of the phone being much thinner than it actually is. It’s also lighter at 181 grams against the Pixel’s 186 gr, so certainly nicer to use than the Google mid-ranger.
As mentioned, the Moto Edge boasts a vegan leather back and a thin aluminum frame. The Pixel also has an aluminum frame, but an unapologetically plastic back. Both screens are protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass.
A dedicated AI Key is featured on the left side of the Edge; pressing it opens up the Moto AI suite of Perplexity-aided features. No extra buttons on the Pixel.
In terms of endurance, Motorola makes a clean sweep: the Edge has the highest possible water- and dust-resistance, IP68/69, as well as MIL-STD-810 endurance rating against damage. The Pixel only has an IP68 certification, but that should be more than enough for most people.
The Motorola Edge (2025) is available in a single green color, called Deep Forest, while Google brings in a lot more variety: the Pixel 9a is available in Obsidian, Porcelain, Iris, and Peony.
