Google Pixel 10a review: Not for those who own the Pixel 9a, but for those who want a new budget powerhouse phone

When Google launched the latest ‘a’ series smartphone, every consumer technology analyst and reviewer found the Pixel 10a way too close to its predecessor, the Pixel 9a. After three weeks of using it, the similarities begin to fade in relevance, and the Google Pixel 10a stands its own ground with ease.

The reasons for this are many, but the biggest factor does not become apparent until the Google Pixel 10a is used regularly. Unlike absolutely any smartphone in recent memory, the Pixel 10a has a fully flat back panel, with the camera module sitting flush inside the matte metal body. This design aspect is combined by the very-smooth, yet very-sturdy build quality, which makes the Pixel 10a feel like a premium smartphone, and not a compromise.

The fully-flat rear means that users can place the phone flat on a desk and type out quick responses to emails and text messages, without having to pick it up. This may seem like a very small factor, but is actually a big deal in everyday life in terms of ergonomics.

Google, interestingly, launched the Pixel 10a just weeks ahead of Apple’s sub-flagship iPhone 17e, which is also almost nearly flat, sans a single camera bump. Comparative usage shows that while a single bump may not be a complete deal-breaker, a fully flat surface makes a big difference. This also harks back to older designs—both the iPhone 17e and the Pixel 10a somewhat resemble Apple’s iPhone 4s from 15 years ago. The Pixel 10a’s minimalism is certainly in line with Google’s general ethos of clean aesthetics, and should please most buyers for not screaming out loud or trying too hard.

The Pixel 10a is a solid overall phone. The Tensor G4 custom processor chip is good enough for most tasks such as running multiple social media and messaging apps, emails, a 30 tabs-laden browser, a map and a music streaming service all at the same time, without feeling like there are too many disruptive stutters. The 6.3-inch display is crisp, sharp and amply warm, and uses a gold-standard Oled panel for producing excellent colours. But, Google has somehow hidden the fast refresh rate mode inside developer settings, which needs to be enabled manually.

Doing so makes the Pixel 10a feel much smoother too, and most buyers who do that will have almost no reason to complain—unless they need to edit a lot of videos on the move, or play a lot of video games. In either of the two cases, the Pixel 10a heats up quite a bit, especially with prolonged usage, and the stutters in the overall performance of the phone become more apparent.

That’s not to say that the Pixel 10a is unusable for intensive tasks: Some light editing of short videos for social media is generally smooth. For sporadic users, the gentle stutters, even as they get worse in two or three years, shouldn’t make the phone unbearable.

The 48-megapixel main camera delivers crisp and warm photographs that seem sharper than what the Pixel 9a produced. The ultrawide camera is sharp enough to use during concerts at night, and the digitally rendered telephoto mode is good enough for casual photography.

For most buyers, this camera will be, for all practical purposes, just as good as the Pixel 10 or 10 Pro. The Pixel 10a gets Google’s usual image processing algorithms and computational photography chops that make it one of the world’s best for software-driven processing of images, colours and sharpness data. At under ₹50,000, the Pixel 10a is the best smartphone in India for photography right now.

The battery size is the same as the previous generation. It remains to be seen how the battery holds up over time as the phone ages, but the Pixel 10a regularly lasts from 8am-11pm on a single charge, without a top-up in the middle.

For heavy phone users, a mid-day top-up should be convenient, as the Pixel 10a now supports 30W fast charging. It also supports 10W wireless charging, but doesn’t support magnetic snap-on chargers—which means buyers will need a Qi-standard wireless power bank, or a normal (but messy) wired one to charge it.

There’s not a lot that makes the Pixel 10a feel like an obvious and glaring budgetary compromise over the Pixel 10 or 10 Pro. It does miss out on four-speaker stereo sound, but still offers stereo audio with two speakers—which should be good enough for most people. The phone doesn’t support the wifi-7 standard, but does support wifi-6e and Bluetooth 6, which is what most modern household and work routers or audio devices are currently on.

The only obvious thing that sticks out is the rather prominent black bezel around the display, even though Google claims that the bezel is 10% thinner in comparison with the Pixel 9a (and they are, if seen next to each other). Practically, the Pixel 10a still looks like it could do with leaner display edges, especially given the market standard at its price range.

At a market price of ₹46,999 after bank discounts (without exchange deals), the Google Pixel 10a is definitely a recommendable purchase, one that should easily last buyers at least four years, without feeling like a compromise.