Google Pixel 8a is here: Release date, specs, price, and everything you need to know

Here at Android Authority, we think Pixels are some of the best Android phones out there. However, Pixels tend to be a bit on the pricey side, especially when it comes to the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. Thankfully, we now have a new addition to the 8-series that is the cheapest yet: the Google Pixel 8a!

In this article, we’re going to tell you everything you could ever want to know about this new 2024 Pixel smartphone!

Google Pixel 8a release date, price, and availability

• Google Pixel 8a 8GB RAM + 128GB ROM: $499 / £499 / €549 / INR 52,999
• Google Pixel 8a 8GB RAM + 256GB ROM: $559 / £559 / €609

Google launched the Pixel 8a on May 7, 2024. This was a surprising launch, considering most A-series devices land during Google I/O, but this launch was a full week before I/O 2024 began. Regardless, the Pixel 8a is the follow-up to the 2023 Pixel 7a.

As expected, the 128GB Pixel 8a has the same starting price as the Pixel 7a, which is $499 in the United States. However, unlike the Pixel 7a, the Pixel 8a has a 256GB variant you can grab for $559. This is a nice option because 128GB of space can fill up pretty quickly if you take many photos and videos, and the Pixel 8a doesn’t have expandable storage. Do note that if you do choose to go with the 256GB option, you’ll only have one color choice: Obsidian (black).

Outside of the United States, the Pixel 8a is available in Canada ($679 CAD), the United Kingdom (£499), Europe (€549), India (INR 52,999), and all the other countries in which you usually find Pixels, including Japan, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and more.

Worldwide, pre-orders for the phone opened on launch day, May 7. Shipments and general sales begin on May 14, which is the first day of Google I/O.

We’re going to break down what to expect from the Pixel 8a, but if these prices aren’t sitting right with you, we recommend checking out our list of the best Google Pixel 8a alternatives instead.

Google Pixel 8a specs

The Pixel 8a is a very interesting phone. Google brought some notable upgrades this year that push the phone really, really close to the mainline Pixel 8. Across the board, specs are incredibly similar between both phones. In a way, the Pixel 8a is just a Pixel 8 with less-premium build materials.

Check out the official specs below:

Google Pixel 8a: Features

It’s pretty amazing the specs and features Google crammed into this phone while still keeping it under $500. Here’s what your money will get you!

Camera

When it comes to the best smartphone cameras, few can compare with Pixels. Although the Pixel 8a doesn’t have the same camera hardware as the Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro, it has the same software. This means most of the cool software-based camera tools you find on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro also are available on the Pixel 8a.

As far as hardware goes, though, you get the exact same setup as we saw on the Pixel 7a. That includes a 64MP primary lens, a 13MP ultrawide flanking it, and a 13MP selfie camera on the front. Comparatively, this spec sheet is not as strong as what we find on the main Pixel 8, which has a 50MP primary lens, a 12MP ultrawide, and a 10.5MP selfie camera. Still, the number of lenses and what each lens does is the same.

More importantly, though, pretty much all the flagship camera features of the Pixel 8 port over to the Pixel 8a. That includes Super Res Zoom (AI-enhanced digital zoom), Night Sight (AI-enhanced low-light photography), Best Take (patches multiple shots together to make one great one), Magic Editor (AI-powered editing with generative fill), Real Tone (accurate skin tones), and Guided Frame (a way for people with vision impairments to accurately line up shots of themselves, other people, pets, documents, and food). Guided Frame also now works on the front and rear cameras.

It’s not just photos, either. The Pixel 8a supports several video features, including Audio Magic Eraser (removes unwanted audio or noise from a video) and Real Tone for video footage.

Really, the only major Pixel camera features the Pixel 8a doesn’t support are Pro Mode and Video Boost, which are both Pixel 8 Pro exclusives for now. Zoom Enhance, a feature Google announced in October 2023 but still hasn’t made available to the Pixel 8 Pro, is also not likely coming to the Pixel 8a.

Performance

Unsurprisingly, the Pixel 8a comes with the same processor as the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro: Tensor G3. We saw the same situation with the Pixel 7a and the 2022 Pixel 6a.

Tensor G3 is a flagship-level chipset based on Samsung’s Exynos designs. While it does a great job with most everyday tasks you tackle with a smartphone, it will not deliver comparable results to the mighty Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 inside the Galaxy S24 series, nor will it even hold a candle to the A17 Pro in the iPhone 15 series. Those are simply more powerful processors that will deliver exceptional results. Still, getting a chip like Tensor G3 in a phone under $500 is a real bargain.

8GB of RAM is paired with Tensor G3, the same setup we found in the Pixel 8 and the Pixel 7a. This will make the Pixel 8a good to use for multi-tasking.

The bottom line here is that the Pixel 8a should deliver more than capable performance for your daily needs. If you want to do high-level tasks — like long, high-res video edits or high-performance gaming and emulation — the Pixel 8a isn’t what you’re looking for.

Screen quality and size

The Pixel 8a has a 6.1-inch OLED display with a 1080p resolution, just like the Pixel 7a. However, there are two notable upgrades here that the Pixel 7a does not have.

First, the Pixel 8a’s display is much, much brighter. It’s capable of hitting 2,000 nits of brightness, a feat shared with the Pixel 8 (the Pixel 8 Pro can hit 2,400 nits). Second, the Pixel 8a has a 120Hz display refresh rate, more than the 90Hz found on the Pixel 7a. Although this matches the peak refresh rate of the Pixel 8, it should be noted that the Pixel 8a’s panel is not low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO). This means the Pixel 8a’s display bounces to either 60Hz or 120Hz and not from 1Hz to 120Hz like the Pixel 8 Pro. This makes the Pixel 8a display a bit less battery-efficient than the Pixel 8 Pro but about on par with the Pixel 8.

It should also be noted that you can’t lock the Pixel 8a’s display refresh rate to 120Hz. It is always dynamic.

Covering the display is the same Gorilla Glass 3 we saw on the Pixel 7a. This is several generations old at this point, so don’t expect high levels of durability for the screen. We highly recommend investing in a Google Pixel 8a screen protector and putting it on immediately when you take the phone out of the box.

Design, colors, and build quality

Design-wise, the Pixel 8a looks a lot like the Pixel 8. It has a similar camera “visor” design on the back. It also has a similar looking front with a centered display cutout for the selfie camera. Really, it’s only when you zoom in on details that you notice the differences.

Starting on the back, the rear panel of the Pixel 8a is plastic, not glass like on the Pixel 8. This makes the phone feel less premium, but it does give you a little less glass to potentially break if you drop it and don’t have a Google Pixel 8a case to protect it.

On the front, the bezels surrounding the display of the Pixel 8a are significantly thicker than what you’ll find on the Pixel 8. Most people won’t care, but if this is important to you, it’s worth being aware.

As far as colors, the 128GB Pixel 8a comes in four colorways: Obsidian (black), Porcelain (off-white), Bay (light blue), and Aloe (an almost neon green). Note that the 256GB version of the Pixel 8a only comes in Obsidian. Also note that Aloe is a different color from the Mint colorway the Pixel 8 series received. Finally, there does not appear to be a Coral (pink) version of the Pixel 8a, which we saw on the Pixel 7a series. We did see cases leak in this color, so it’s possible Google could launch this later, but for now, it’s just Obsidian, Porcelain, Bay, and Aloe.

For durability, we already mentioned the display is covered with Gorilla Glass 3. The phone also has an IP67 rating, just a hair shy of the full IP68 rating of the Pixel 8. An IP67 rating means the phone will be safe against small particles (like fine sand) and be able to withstand quick submersion into shallow water. It will not be able to handle long-term submersion into deeper water, though, so be careful.

The Pixel 8a will also be a part of Google’s partnership with iFixit, so you’ll be able to buy official replacement parts — including batteries and displays — and then install them yourself, should you so choose. It will probably be a few weeks before these parts become available, though, so try to keep your phone in tip-top shape until then.

Battery and charging speed

The battery inside the Pixel 8a has a typical capacity of 4,492mAh. This makes it slightly larger than the Pixel 7a’s while being slightly smaller than the Pixel 8’s (and much smaller than the Pixel 8 Pro’s).

The Pixel 8a also has the same charging speeds and features as the Pixel 7a. That means 18W wired charging speeds and 7.5W wireless charging speeds. Those are quite slow, especially the 7.5W wireless speed. However, wireless charging offered at all for phones under $500 is relatively rare, so we shouldn’t complain too much about that one. The 18W wired speed, though, is pretty much unacceptable. Most phones out there at this price point have much faster speeds, including the Galaxy A54 (25W) and the OnePlus 12R (80W in the US). We sincerely hope this is the last phone Google launches with charging speeds under 30W.

Regardless, when you do need to top up, you’ll need to bring your own charger, since the Pixel 8a will not have one in the box. We can help you find the right charger for your Pixel 8a, if you need assistance.

Unique Pixel and Gemini features

We’ve already gone over the Pixel camera features coming to the Pixel 8a, but there are also lots of other Pixel exclusive features coming to the new phone.

First, the Pixel 8a will support Face Unlock as a Class 3 biometric. This means that using Face Unlock will be just as secure as using the phone’s in-display fingerprint sensor, allowing you to do things like unlock banking apps and get your phone ready for a contactless payment with your face or your fingerprint — your choice. In the Android world, this is not common. In fact, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro were previously the only phones you could get in the United States that can do this. Adding a sub-$500 phone to that list is great news.

Another notable new feature is Gemini Nano support. Because the Pixel 8a has the same core hardware configuration as the Pixel 8 (8GB of RAM and Tensor G3), it is now the cheapest phone you can get that supports Gemini Nano features. Gemini Nano allows for on-device AI processing, giving users features that work without a data connection. This will include things like summarizing a recording made with the Recorder app.

The Pixel 8a will also support cloud-based AI tools, such as summarizing emails. Unfortunately, like the Pixel 8, the Pixel 8a will only be able to access these features through a Developers Options setting coming soon with a Pixel Feature Drop. In other words, these features won’t work out-of-the-box for the Pixel 8a, and even when they do work, you’ll need to activate them manually.

Outside of Nano features, the Pixel 8a will support all sorts of other Pixel exclusives, such as Call Screen (Google Assistant answering your calls for you), Hold For Me (Assistant waiting on hold for you), and Live Translate. It will also support Circle to Search, which is not exclusive to Pixels but only appears on a select number of Android phones right now.

Finally, the Pixel 8a will also support replacing Google Assistant with Gemini. This is optional. The first time you activate Assistant on the Pixel 8a (such as by holding down the power button), you’ll be given the opportunity to opt-in to replace Assistant with Gemini. You can decline if you want, but the option will be immediately presented to you.

Software and updates

When the Pixel 8 series landed, Google surprised us all by confirming the phones would receive a full seven years of support. That means seven Android upgrades, 28 Pixel Feature Drops, and 84 monthly security patches. We were curious, at the time, about whether or not the Pixel 8a would get the same support. As it turns out, it will!

That’s right: the Pixel 8a gets the same support longevity as the main Pixel 8a series. This makes the Pixel 8a a terrific choice for folks who are interested in keeping their phones active for as long as possible. It also makes it the cheapest phone on the market with a support promise of that length.

Outside of updates, the Pixel 8a comes with Android 14 out of the box. Like all other Pixels, it’s skinned over with Pixel UI.

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