It's been a big few weeks for the cheaper phones market, as the Google Pixel 9a has arrived to take on the still pretty new iPhone 16e.
Which phone is the better, and which deserves a higher spot on our best cheap phones guide, is still up for debate as we get to grips with Google's new Pixel 9a. But its stable price, larger display and battery and excellent-seeming software have already impressed us.
The iPhone 16e is no pushover though. It is on the expensive side for a cheaper phone, but everything Apple included is still impressive, from the cameras to its mighty chipset.
We'll see how the two compare on paper here, and will update the page soon with full testing results once we've spent more time with the Pixel 9a. But we should get a good idea of who the victor of Pixel 9a vs. iPhone 16e is from what we know already.
iPhone 16e vs. Pixel 9a: Specifications
iPhone 16e vs. Pixel 9a: Price and Release
Google's kept the price of the Pixel 9a at the level of the Pixel 8a: $499/£499/AU$849 for the standard 128GB storage model ($599 for 256GB). That's $100 less than the iPhone 16e, which saw its cost leap almost $200 from the iPhone SE 3 to its new $599 asking price.
The iPhone 16e is on sale right now, but the Pixel 9a isn't just available yet at the time of writing. It's not up for pre-orders yet, and will go on sale fully on a currently unannounced date in April.
iPhone 16e vs. Pixel 9a: Design and display
The camera bar seen on the last few generations of Google Pixel has disappeared from the Pixel 9a. The two cameras still sit in a pill-shaped glass block, but that's now flush with the back panel for a completely smooth design. The rest of the design, with its rounded corners, still looks Pixel-like, although the sides are now flat like the other Pixel 9 models.
The iPhone 16e is also a flat-sided, round-cornered device, but it still has a camera bump, albeit only a small one. It's also using a notched display to allow for Face ID and the selfie camera, while the Pixel 9a has a centred punch-hole for its front camera.
Google definitely wins when it comes to colors. The Pixel 9a comes in one of four options: Obsidian, Porcelain, Iris and Peony. The iPhone 16e is only available in either black or white.
Durability-wise, the Pixel 9a and iPhone 16e both offer IP68 dust/water resistance, an upgrade for the Pixel that gives both phones the current flagship standard for toughness. Apple uses a Ceramic Shield display material to protect the iPhone 16e, while Google uses Gorilla Glass 3, giving both protection against drops and scratches.
The screen of the Pixel 9a is a touch larger than the iPhone 16e - measuring 6.3 inches to the Apple phone's 6.1, and is also smoother, with a peak refresh rate of 120Hz rather than just a flat 60Hz. Both use OLED tech, but the Actua technology used by Google promises a much higher peak brightness of 2,700 nits, compared to the 1,200 nits that Apple rates the iPhone 16e's. We'll compare our own measurements once we have them for the Pixel 9a.
iPhone 16e vs. Pixel 9a: Cameras
Our two competitors both use 48MP main cameras, but things change from that point. Technically this is a downgrade for the Pixel 9a, since the Pixel 8a has a 64MP camera, but the larger aperture of the new 48MP camera should mean brighter shots.
The Pixel 9a also has a 13MP ultrawide camera, something that the iPhone 16e doesn't offer. That gives the Pixel an advantage when it comes to fitting more stuff in-shot and for close-ups, as Google's now given the ultrawide camera the same macro abilities as premium Pixels.
On the front, the Pixel 9a has a slight megapixel advantage with its 13MP selfie camera compared to the iPhone 16e's 12MP one. But we'll save our full verdict for after we've reviewed the Pixel 9a's cameras in detail against the iPhone 16e and other phones.
iPhone 16e vs. Pixel 9a: Performance
Apple and Google have the same strategy for powering their cheaper phones — use the same chip as the last flagship models. That means a Tensor G4 chip in the Pixel 9a's case and an A18 for the iPhone 16e.
Going by these chips' performance in the Pixel 9 and iPhone 16, Apple has a big advantage on all metrics. But we'll have to wait for benchmarking to confirm if the Pixel 9a does lag behind the iPhone 16e in the same way.
The storage capacities of these phones starts at the same 128GB level, with both also offering 256GB available for a little extra. The iPhone 16e is also offered with 512GB if you want even more space.
iPhone 16e vs. Pixel 9a: Battery and charging
The Pixel 9a has an enormous 5,100 mAh battery, way larger than the Pixel 8a's battery, and larger than the iPhone 16e's, which contains a 4,005mAh cell according to teardown data. We don't know what this could mean for the Pixel 9a's chances on our battery life test, as normally Pixels don't have the best battery life. But perhaps this big leap in capacity could mean it stands a chance against the iPhone 16e, that offers good but not top-tier phone battery life.
The iPhone 16e supports 20W wired charging, and basic 7.5W wireless charging (sadly there's no MagSafe here). The Pixel 9a offers the same 7.5W wireless charging, but slightly higher-powered 23W charging with the right charger.
iPhone 16e vs. Pixel 9a: Software and AI
Both Google and Apple are focused on AI features with their Gemini and Apple Intelligence suites respectively. For the Pixel 9a, that involves features like Add Me for adding missing people into photos, Pixel Studio image generation powers, Gemini Live for chatty AI antics and phonecall-related features like automatic transcription and summarization. In the iPhone 16e's case, that includes elements like Visual Intelligence for asking questions about what's in front of your camera lens, Writing Tools for help with drafting text, Photo Clean Up for tidying images and Image Playground and Genmoji for generating pictures and custom emoji.
Google is once again offering seven full years of updates for the Pixel 9a. That's still the longest we've seen for any phone of this price. Apple doesn't make specific software update promises, but normally supports its phones with five years of updates. Perhaps that's enough for users who plan to upgrade by 2030, but the Pixel will obviously last longer.
iPhone 16e vs. Pixel 9a: Outlook
Even before we have a full review in for the Google Pixel 9a, it's already looking like far better value than the iPhone 16e. It's cheaper, larger, offers a longer software support window and a much larger battery, all reasons that might be enough to sway someone towards it by themselves, let alone together.
The iPhone 16e is expensive for a "budget" phone, but everything about it is still high quality across the board. If it has photo quality, display or performance advantages of sufficient size over the Google phone, it could still be the better option for most users. But check back once our Pixel 9a review is here for our final take on which of these phones is the better one.
