With all the talks about tariffs driving costs, the word “cheap” should bring comfort to almost anyone. So we're happy to share that Google's cheap smartphone has arrived a few months after Apple released a slightly cheaper entry-level iPhone.
Google released the Pixel 9a this week, the $500 brother to The Pixel 9, the $800 flagship smartphone. It competes directly with the $600 iPhone 16E, a cheaper version of Apple's $800 iPhone 16.
Both new phones have staples that people care most about, including great cameras, nice screens, zippy speed, modern software, and long battery life. To reduce costs, they omit some more fancy extras, like advanced camera features.
Is it a wise idea to save some dollars, or would it be better to spend more on a more fancy phone? I was tied up to a fanny pack to find out, carrying all four phones around to run the test last week.
Results: As is often the case, you get what you pay for. The $800 phone is slightly better in terms of functionality and performance than the cheaper version, while the $600 iPhone has a better camera than the $500 pixels.
But even more importantly, the cheaper pixels and iPhones were hardly distinguishable from their $800 counterparts in some of my tests. In some cases, cheaper phones were even better, like battery life.
The future of phone prices remains uncertain, but costs will likely rise. On Wednesday, when President Trump announced a suspension on most “mutual” tariffs, he raised tariffs in China, where many phones are manufactured. So many of us may be motivated to compromise quickly and consider cheaper alternatives.
Apple declined to comment on whether to raise the price of the iPhone, but analysts estimate that tariffs could increase the cost of the iPhone 16 Pro model from $1,300 to $2,300. Google said there were no planned changes to the $500 price for the Pixel 9a, but declined to comment on whether to fix the $800 Pixel 9 price.
The cheaper iPhone and pixel look roughly the same as the more expensive siblings. Here's a summary of how they compare:
The phone screen is the same size. (The iPhone measures 6.1 inch diagonal, and the pixel measures 6.3 inch diagonal). The iPhone 16E's screen is slightly darker than the iPhone 16, but the difference is almost noticeable.
Both cheaper phones don't have some camera features that come in the more expensive versions. The Pixel 9a camera sensor is smaller than Pixel 9, which means less detail and light. The iPhone 16E camera has one camera lens rather than two, so you can't create certain types of special effects, such as “ultra a wide” photos with a wide field of view of a scenic shot of the Grand Canyon.
Both cheap phones are slightly less powerful than their better counterparts. The four mobile phones contain the same computer processor. However, the Pixel 9a has less memory to run multiple apps simultaneously, and the iPhone 16E has a slightly weaker graphics processing unit for running games with heavy animation.
The iPhone 16E does not have the Magsafe feature on the iPhone 16. This uses a magnet to connect accessories such as a power charger or wallet to the back of your phone. However, although the phone can still be charged wirelessly, use a slower charging standard called QI.
Both phones can use artificial intelligence. iPhone 16E can use Apple Intelligence to summarise text, generate images, and remove photo bombers from photos. The Pixel 9a can run Google's AI, including Gemini chatbots and similar photo editing tools. However, both companies still develop AI software, which is largely unfinished, so this feature may not be as important to most phone users.
battery
On the priority list of new phone buyers, the longer battery life and cheaper Pixel 9A and iPhone 16E are the clear winners here. Mobile phones have a larger battery because there is more space as there is no functionality in their more expensive counterparts.
The iPhone 16E and Pixel 9A generally lasted a day and a half, including web browsing, photography and video playing before the battery ran out. Both the iPhone 16 and Pixel 9 lasted about a day.
Camera Test
The drawbacks of buying cheap phones were most notable with cameras.
I took Max, a Corgi, to the park, and took photos of him in a variety of lighting conditions, including shade and partially shady areas, including bright daylight. In general, photos taken with both the Pixel 9a and Pixel 9 looked consistently clear with accurate colors.
However, the weakness of the Pixel 9a was seen in more challenging lighting conditions, such as when Max sat in a shady path as sunlight filtered through the trees. Pixel 9a struggled to distinguish light from shade, and Max seemed to have been blown away by the sun. (Pixel 9 was fine in this situation.)
When I tested the iPhone 16E and iPhone 16 cameras, they were excellent in all these tests, with little distinction in the results.
Both iPhones outperformed pixel phones in filmed videos. Max's video strolling around the park was clearer and smoother on his iPhone. The video on the Pixel Phone looked more choppier.
Therefore, the main drawback of cheap iPhone cameras is that they simply can't. The iPhone 16e does not have a second lens, so I couldn't take a super-wave shot of Max running in a grass field.
speed
More expensive phones were slightly ahead of cheaper phones in terms of speed.
According to the speed test app GeekBench, the Pixel 9a is about 4% slower than the Pixel 9, and the iPhone 16e is 3% slower than the iPhone 16.
With actual mobile phone use, most people probably don't notice the difference. When I set up my phones side by side and launched various apps and games, the performance felt almost the same for me.
What does this mean to you?
You will mostly be happy with either the iPhone 16e or Pixel 9a with a long battery life and a good camera smartphone. But if you value any of the premium features that cheap phones lack, such as taking more detailed and good looking photos, or charging your iPhone to use Apple's Magsafe, spending more is still a great idea.
Prices are likely to rise soon, so be prepared to consider your smartphone as a long-term investment just like a car.
