Google Pixel 10a review: Still the best mid-range Android

I didn't really like the Pixel 9a. Not because it wasn't a great phone (per our 5-star review, which saw it top the best budget phones guide), but because the design didn't work. One tiny detail cheapened the look for me – and that was the flange around the camera on the back.

Google had gone to the effort of making a phone with a flat back, eliminating the camera bulge that blights so many, but put a little plastic ridge around the camera. It felt like a bad decision, albeit a very minor detail.

On lifting the new Pixel 10a from the box, however, the fact that this detail was gone and the back is perfectly flat made my day. It's pleasing when wrongs are righted. But beyond that, the Pixel 10a is basically the same phone as the Pixel 9a before it.

To some this will therefore look like a 'lazy' update without excitement; to others it only furthers the argument for buying the Pixel 9a instead. But not everyone is looking at mid-range phones every single generation – and this isn't an upgraders' phone.

Sot let's not sell the Pixel 10a short, because it's easily still one of the best phones in this category – and a 5-star winner for those who'll actually get to own and use one as their own, as I have been doing so for some weeks for this review.

Price & Availability

The Google Pixel 10a is priced from £499 / $499 / €549 / AU$849. It's available in two storage options: 128GB at the entry point; 256GB for those who want to step up.

That's the same price as the Pixel 9a at launch, so there's been no inflation there. However, the Pixel 9a is basically the same device, but is now £399 direct from Google, with prices as low as £319 in the past from Amazon.

The price of the 256GB Pixel 10a is the same as the 256GB version of the iPhone 17e at £499, so there is serious other competition to consider. Not to mention Nothing's Phone (4a) with its more considerable zoom lens.

What’s new?

• Display is brighter
• Flat camera design
• Satellite SOS included
• Supports 30W charging

The Pixel 10a is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it update to the Pixel 9a, but it's not exactly the same. The meaningful update is that the display in the Pixel 10a is brighter, while it is covered with Gorilla Glass 7i, a later version than Gorilla Glass 3 on the Pixel 9a.

There's a small bump to charging speeds, too, with 30W now supported (from 23W of the old phone), while it also moves wireless charging to 10W (from 7.5W).

Beyond that, there's a new modem that supports Bluetooth 6.0, as well as offering the satellite SOS feature that the Pixel 9a lacked.

Design & Display

• 6.3-inch AMOLED display, 60-120Hz
  • 2424 x 1080 pixels, 422.2ppi
  • Gorilla Glass 7i
• Aluminium frame, plastic back

The Pixel 9a ushered in a number of changes, including a flat design that largely eliminated the camera bump. It also boosted the battery, increased the screen size, and changed the camera. Much of what the Pixel 9a introduced remains in the Pixel 10a, with minor tweaks to further refineme.

I thought that the Pixel 9a design didn't quite work because of the way the glass cover for the camera was mounted in the rear of the phone. Now that there's a seamless finish, dropping the flange of the 9a, and I think it looks a lot better.

While the design is similar, it's not identical. There's a fractional dimension change, while 3g are shed from the weight (not enough to actually notice). That suggests these are all-new frame parts rather than leftovers from before. Compare that to Apple, where the iPhone 17e and the iPhone 16e dimensions are identical, and it's clear that Google has put in more consideration than first meets the eye.

The Pixel 10a remains a compact mid-range phone, with the coloured versions – Berry (pictured) and Lavender – being the most exciting. I think the black and white models are a bit boring, but they're the ones that'll sell.

The display remains at 6.3-inches across its diagonal, with a Full HD resolution (resulting in 422ppi pixel density). It's now boosted to 2,000 nits in high dynamic range (HDR), with 3,000 nits peak brightness. For reference: that's significantly brighter than the iPhone 17e and the Samsung Galaxy S26.

Most of this brightness is preserved for the delivery of HDR content, though, as I found the Pixel 10a a little keen to dim the brightness by default – so I regularly bumped it up for more vibrancy and better visibility. It's a great display overall, punching out colours boldly, and I have few complaints about its performance.

The only complaint I do have comes back to design: Google has kept the wide bezel around the edge of the screen, which makes it look a little dated, highlighting this as a cheaper device.

Performance & Battery

• Google Tensor G4
  • 8GB RAM, 126/256GB storage
• 5,100mAh battery
  • 30W wired charging
  • 10W wireless charging

The biggest criticism of the Pixel 10a is the lack of any change in the processor. The Pixel 9a used the Tensor G4, the same as the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro. In many ways, this policy of Google's has given us some great affordable phones with just about as much power as the flagship devices.

It's therefore a little disappointing that the 10a doesn't offer the Tensor G5, which is some 35% faster in its CPU. That's why buying the older device – that's now even cheaper – could make a lot of sense.

For many users, this won't make much of a difference though. While at face value the Pixel 10a isn't the bargain the Pixel 9a was at launch, there's still plenty of power on board – and it runs really smoothly.

I'll sound like an excusenik, but for those looking for a more affordable Pixel experience, the fact that it has Tensor G4 doesn't matter in daily use – if you want more power, get the Pixel 10 and pay the additional price.

What's important is the Pixel 10a performs well. I used it as my sole device for covering Mobile World Congress 2026 – check out the best phones from that show – which meant a lot of intensive use, from hotspotting, to camera work, and regular navigation.

Firing up Call of Duty Mobile doesn't feel lacking either. It runs really well, the biggest complaint being that I find the handset a little small for gaming. Still, the Pixel 10a simply doesn't feel like a phone at the affordable end of the spectrum given this performance.

The battery is 5,100mAh, the same capacity as the 2025 model, but now with 30W charging. This slight bump is welcomed, but it's still a long way from the speeds you'll get from the likes of Motorola, Poco or Honor – but the experience you get from Pixel is better. There's 10W wireless charging, but no support for PixelSnap like the other Pixel 10 models.

I found the Pixel 10a battery to easily last me through a full day and most of the next in typical use. Even with a lot of hotspotting, it lasted me through busy 12-hour working days without issue. Remember that the Pixel 10a battery is more capacious than the Pixel 10 and the Pixel 10 Pro, so it will outlast those too.

Software & AI

• Android 16
  • 7 years of updates

Pixel phones are all about the software. As brands search for ways to introduce more artificial intelligence (AI) features and services, Google's approach ends up much cleaner, as Gemini (Google's AI solution) is integrated across Android.

Even where it's not integrated, Gemini often offers a better experience than the multi-service approach that's appearing elsewhere, where you might be offered Perplexity and CoPilot on top of Gemini, with seemingly no good reason.

The Pixel 10a launches on Android 16, with Material 3 Expressive in its cleanest form. For many, the purity of stock Android is one of the top features of the Pixel – and that's especially important on the Pixel 10a.

Generally, as phones slide down the price scale, they attract more adverts in the interface, pre-installed apps and bloatware – all to earn the manufacturer money that offsets the cheaper price for the customer. But that's not what you'll find on a Pixel phone.

Instead, you’re front of the line to get new features, updates to new versions of Android will arrive months before they hit other brands, while there's a great deal of feature parity between the 10a and the other 10 models. That hasn't changed from the Pixel 9a, but it's still a major selling point.

Google's Gemini feeds into a number of apps for an extra layer of intelligence, but I don't find it as intrusive as other brands. While Google will offer you greater AI skills with one of the paid-for Google Account options, everything feels integrated on Pixel devices.

I'd even go as far as saying that AI has lost some of its prominence: Google Photos, where the photo editing features can be found, has integrated Magic Editor into the edit options in Google Photos, so it's slightly less overt now. It's no less powerful than it was before, just more subtle.

It's worth mentioning, however, that a lot of what you get from Gemini on the Pixel 10a is available on other Android devices through Google's apps. What the Pixel offers is a clean and simple approach, where everything works and makes sense, without the confusion that some other brands can bring to the experience.

Small point of note: you don't get the Pixel Studio app or the Screenshots app of the Pixel 10 models, but pretty much everything else is here.

Cameras

• Dual rear cameras:
  • Main: 48-megapixel, 1/2in sensor, f/1.7, optical image stabilisation
  • Ultrawide: 13-megapixel, 1/3.1in sensor, f/2.2
• Front camera:
  • Selfie: 13-megapixel, f/2.2

The camera is where the Pixel a series really cuts its teeth, often being named as the best camera phone on a budget.

That isn't to do with the hardware (which is unchanged from the Pixel 9a), but due in a large part to the software that Google throws behind it. Pixel has a long reputation of being able to produce good images in just about all conditions – and that remains true on the Pixel 10a.

It's a simple camera. While others look to elevate their experience with features that replicate real cameras with real lenses, Google doesn't. The majority of the time, it's point, shoot, and get a result that competes with flagships and outstrips other phones at the affordable end of the scale.

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This is mostly about processing, with Google able to bring dynamic range to photos, for example preserving cloud detail without making the rest of the image too gloomy. Low-light photos are lifted without getting too noisy, colours are authentic without making, say, the sky unrealistically blue or the grass too green.

About the only time the Pixel gets foxed is with some digital displays, where occasionally the white balance is lost and things look too yellow or pink. The ultrawide is blurry towards the edges of the frame, too, while the lack of a dedicated zoom is a shortcoming.

There aren't a huge number of phones with an optical zoom at this price – check out the Nothing Phone (4a) or (4a) Pro if that's what you're after – but I'd say that most cheap phones with a zoom don't offer the same quality from their main camera. The digital zoom on the Pixel 10a is limited to 8x and at the far end there's noticeable softness, so I'd advise stopping short of the full range to preserve quality.

Google Pixel 10a review: Verdict

It's easy to look at the Pixel 10a and say that it doesn't represent the same value that the Pixel 9a did because the processor didn't get an upgrade. That's a fair contextual criticism, but it doesn’t really help those considering buying one.

Should you upgrade from the Pixel 9a to the 10a? Absolutely not. Should you ultimately buy the Pixel 9a instead? If you can find one, because it's now cheaper for much the same hardware.

But the Pixel 10a still offers plenty for new buyers, including its brighter-than-the-competition display. The software experience is clean, you're the first to get new features, the battery lasts incredibly well, and the cameras remain great – with the only real downside being a lack of any dedicated telephoto lens.

People in tech might not be excited about the Pixel 10a as an upgrade prospect, but as a standalone device it still has plenty to offer. It's easily one of the best affordable phones – and a 5-star experience to live with.

Also consider

I've mentioned it plenty of times already, but the Pixel 9a is cheaper, so it's almost certainly worth buying instead, although stock is likely to diminish over the coming months.

Alternatively, the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro is the same price with a fancier design, triple camera, larger display, but less powerful hardware. The OnePlus 15R is a neat option, too, despite worse cameras.

The iPhone 17e (256GB) offers a rival clean software experience (in iOS rather than Android, of course).