Apple will unveil the iPhone SE 4 on Wednesday, a device that will look like the iPhone 14 but sport iPhone 16 specs that can support Apple Intelligence. At $500, the iPhone SE 4 (or whatever Apple calls it) will be one of the best smartphones you can buy this year. It’ll offer high-end performance and a decent camera, all for a great price.
But that’s not the only new smartphone featuring a mid-range price and high-end performance launching this spring. Google’s Pixel 9a is about to launch very soon, at least considering the increasing number of rumors we’re getting. The latest leak gives us the Pixel 9a specs and price a day before Apple’s big iPhone announcement.
Considering most Pixel rumors are accurate, this leak is very likely correct. This means the Pixel 9a will easily be the best alternative to the iPhone SE 4 of early 2025. Even without a specs leak, that’s to be expected. After all, the Pixel phones Google launched in the past few years have been increasingly better devices than the first models in the Pixel A series when it comes to performance.
We saw the Pixel 9a appear in leaked images a few days ago. That leak seemed to confirm rumors that Google is transitioning to a new design phase for its Pixel phones. The rear-facing camera bar has been shrinking in size with the Pixel 9 phones, and the Pixel 9a will deliver another important update. The pill-shaped camera module will almost lack a protrusion.
Just like that, Google will be fixing a design issue not just with its Pixels but with every smartphone. For years, smartphones have had increasingly larger camera bumps, a design compromise we needed to accept for the camera quality benefits. Google seems ready to reduce the size of the camera bump, at least for the Pixel 9a.
German blog WinFuture obtained the Pixel 9a specs, including camera details. The phone will feature a 48-megapixel primary lens on the back, with a 1/2-inch sensor and an 82-degree field of view. The second camera is a 13-megapixel ultra-wide shooter with a 120-degree field of view. We have another 13-megapixel lens on the front with a narrower 96-degree field of view.
That selfie cam will punch through a 6.3-inch OLED panel with a 2424 x 1080 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The screen supports HDR10+ and has a brightness between 1,800 and 2,700 nits.
The Pixel 9a will feature the Tensor G4 chip paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of flash memory. This should be enough to support some on-device Gemini AI features. The iPhone SE 4 will come out with Apple Intelligence support.
The G4 is the same processor Google put in the Pixel 9 last year. Its performance doesn’t match the A18 chip, expected to power the iPhone SE 4, but it should ensure a high-end Pixel experience.
Battery life should be another highlight for the Pixel 9a. The phone should feature a 5,100 mAh battery, a significantly larger capacity than the Pixel 8a’s 4,492 mAh battery. Google somehow managed to increase the battery size in the Pixel 9a without increasing its thickness.
The Pixel 9a should come in Obsidian, Porcelain, Peony, and Iris, with the German blog featuring plenty of press images showing the four options. The 128GB variant should cost €499 in Germany, while the 256GB model will retail for €599.
Prices in the EU include tax, so a direct conversion to dollars wouldn’t give us the correct price for the US. However, I’d expect the Pixel 9a to cost $499, matching the Pixel 8a’s price. The iPhone SE 4 is also expected to start at around $500 in the US.
The report doesn’t give us a release date for the Pixel 9a, but the launch must be imminent. Other reports said the phone would be available in March, which makes sense. Google will want to compete against the iPhone SE 4 as soon as possible.
