Google Pixel 9A Review: Is It Worth ₹50,000 in 2025?

The Google Pixel 9A has entered the market at a price of ₹50,000, but when you take a closer look, it becomes clear that the value just isn’t there. At best, this phone feels like it should be priced around ₹35,000 to ₹36,000. Android competition has moved far ahead, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to justify choosing this device—especially in 2025.

Holding the Pixel 9A gives you a compact feel thanks to its 6.3-inch display, which is slightly larger than the previous 6.1-inch model. However, despite the increase, the phone still feels slightly bulky and thick. The build includes a plastic back and a metal frame, which gives it some sturdiness, but the design isn’t particularly appealing. The uneven camera visor and plastic materials make it feel dated, especially compared to other phones in the same price range that offer more premium finishes.

Out of the box, you get no charger, just a USB Type-C to Type-C cable and a SIM ejector tool. The phone supports only 23W wired charging, which is extremely slow by today’s standards, especially for a device priced at ₹50K. Google included a case for review, but this is not part of the retail package—you’ll need to spend around ₹3,000 extra to get it.

One of the biggest letdowns is the display. Although it’s a 6.3-inch OLED panel with 120Hz refresh rate and up to 2700 nits peak brightness, the bezels are unusually thick and uniform, making the phone look outdated. Even though it supports HDR10+, the default setting is locked at 60Hz, and you need to manually enable 120Hz in the settings.

The phone runs on the new Tensor G4 chipset with an AnTuTu score in the range of 1.2 to 1.3 million, which aligns with the performance of MediaTek’s Dimensity 8300 or Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3. It uses LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, which is good, but the performance still isn’t extraordinary. The 5100mAh battery is a welcome upgrade from the previous generation, and you can expect around 7 hours of screen-on time. But again, the slow 23W charging holds it back.

Software experience is what you expect from Pixel—clean and close to stock Android. However, in 2025, that’s not necessarily a compliment. Many users find native Android to be a bit dull compared to custom UIs like One UI or ColorOS that offer far more features and customizations. Google promises 7 years of major and security updates, which is commendable, and the phone includes AI features like Gemini Assistant and Circle to Search. While these are well integrated, they still don’t set the phone apart dramatically.

Connectivity-wise, there’s a concern. The Pixel 9A uses the same Exynos 5300 modem as its predecessor, which had known network issues. Although it includes Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and support for 18 5G bands, the modem could be a bottleneck, and long-term connectivity performance remains to be seen. You also get eSIM support, NFC, and USB 3.2, which is a plus considering many phones still ship with USB 2.0.

For multimedia, the display is decent, and the audio quality is acceptable. If the phone were priced at ₹30K, it would have been considered a good media phone, but at ₹50K, it doesn’t quite cut it. It just feels average.

Now coming to the camera—this is traditionally where Pixel phones shine. The 9A includes a 48MP primary and 13MP ultra-wide sensor at the rear, and a 13MP front camera. You can shoot 4K at 60FPS with the primary sensor and 4K 30FPS with the secondary. The image quality is decent in well-lit conditions, with good detail and color. However, processing is slower, especially in low-light, and there’s a noticeable delay between clicking the shutter and seeing the final image. The ultra-wide camera does show some quality drop and lacks color consistency. There’s no telephoto lens either, not even a 2x optical zoom—something many other ₹30K phones now include.

Thermals are another issue. Even during app downloads or light usage, the device heats up. While gaming, particularly with titles like Genshin Impact, the phone reached high temperatures quickly and performance dropped below 30FPS. That kind of heat and throttling is not acceptable, especially for a phone at this price.

There are positives like an in-display fingerprint scanner, face unlock, IP68 rating (an improvement over last year’s IP67), and wireless charging support at 7.5W. But overall, the Pixel 9A feels more like a device from 2020 or 2021 rather than a true 2025 flagship alternative.

At ₹50,000, this phone simply doesn’t make sense. The charging is too slow, the design is uninspired, the performance is just average, and there are serious thermal issues. Unless the price drops to around ₹35K, the Pixel 9A is hard to recommend. There are far better phones available that offer superior display quality, better cameras, faster charging, and more polished software experiences.