Google Pixel 6a Pricing, Release Date, & Features

At the opening keynote of Google IO 2022, the Pixel 6a was confirmed. We’re keeping a live blog of the whole event here. This is a cheaper version of the Google Pixel 6, based on its name and how the series works. But so far, we haven’t heard anything else about the phone.

It has a surprising number of the same features as its bigger siblings, but some downgrades in certain areas mean that the Pixel 6 will still be an essential part of the line. This phone hasn’t come out for a while yet, but everything you need to know about the Google Pixel 6a until then.

Get to the Point

• What’s that? Google’s new Pixel is a mid-range phone.
• When can I get it? August 28, 2022.
• What is the price? $449, £399, or $749.

The Price and Availability of the Google Pixel 6a

The Pixel 6a from Google costs $449, £399, or AU$749. In the US and Australia, you can start pre-ordering the clone phone on July 21, and it will go on sale on July 28. That’s a long way off, so it’s odd to hear about it soon. We don’t know when it will come out in the UK yet so it could be even further away. But it will come. It comes in white, green, and black, or chalk, sage, and charcoal, to use their real names.

Design and Display

Like the other Pixel 6 phones, the Google Pixel 6a has a 6.1-inch OLED screen with a hole in the middle. It has a resolution of 1080 x 2400 with 429 pixels per inch and supports HDR. However, it only has a refresh rate of 60Hz, which may be disappointing to some. At least the screen has an Always-on Display, which is something that not all mid-range phones have. The phone looks a lot like its siblings. It has the same camera bar, but the lens cutouts are smaller, making it look a little less flashy.

Google says it has a “3D thermoformed composite back,” which sounds like a fancy way of saying that it is made of plastic. That should make it less likely to break if it falls. It measures 152.2 x 71.8 x 8.9 mm and weighs 178g. The screen is made of Gorilla Glass 3, making it stronger than regular glass but not as strong as some other screens. The Pixel 6a has a “tactile alloy frame” and an IP67 rating, which means it can stand up to dust and water.

Cameras and Batteries

The Google Pixel 6a has a 12MP primary camera and a 12MP ultra-wide camera, both of which are in that thick bar. The front-facing camera is only 8MP, so don’t expect to take high-resolution selfies. However, some of the camera features from the Pixel 6 are still there, like Magic Eraser, which lets you get rid of annoying things in photos, and Real Tone, which makes portrait mode work better for people who don’t have white skin. How much power does this battery have? Google says that 4,800mAh will last for more than a day of use. 30W is how fast it charges.

Performance and Specs

The Pixel 6a has the same Google Tensor chip as the older Pixel phones. This means that the Pixel 6a should be just as powerful as the older phones, which is why they have the same camera features. You also get 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which are pretty standard for a phone in this price range. The software is Android 12. Unfortunately, the phone is too new for Android 13, but it will likely get that update soon.

• Google Pixel 7 has been “announced,” even though it won’t come out for months.