Google’s budget-friendly Pixel 9a offers seven years of updates, but its hardware specs are unlikely to keep up with future features.
Google has one of the best update policies of any smartphone brand. Even the new and very affordable Pixel 9a will receive the same seven years of OS and security updates as its farm more pricey Pixel 9 Pro models. At $499, that’s an absolute bargain if you plan to keep the handset for the foreseeable future.
However, Google somewhat undermines this premise with a mediocre memory configuration. I can overlook the limited 128GB of storage to save costs, even if most of us will quickly fill it up with new photos, videos, and increasingly hefty apps before the decade’s end. There’s a 256GB version that you absolutely should consider if you want to make the most of the phone for this long.
No, my bigger problem with the Pixel 9a is its measly 8GB of RAM. Measly might sound like an exaggeration; however, Google bills the Pixel 9a as a phone specifically engineered to bring AI features like Gemini Live, on-device Recorder translations, and its best-in-class camera features to the masses. With that, we’re anticipating seven years of Pixel Drops packed full of new AI features over the Pixel 9a’s lifespan. 8GB RAM isn’t going to cut it for running next-gen AI tools, especially if you want the privacy benefits of running them offline. In fact, it’s barely even adequate today.
You only have to look at Google’s flagship models to see why. The Pixel 9 Pro reserves 2.64GB of its RAM for AI, keeping its model in memory at all times for added responsiveness. Thankfully, the Pro phones have a healthy 16GB RAM, so don’t miss that dedicated pool all too much.
