Not too long ago, there were plenty of compelling reasons to spend over $900 on a smartphone. These days you have to come up with an excuse to pay that much.
I ran out of reasons to splurge and stopped buying fancier phones nicknamed “Pro” for the past two years. It’s not just because I’m frugal. Cheaper phones are indistinguishable from high-end phones, and the few features that set them apart rarely justify the extra cost.
Google’s new budget phone arriving in stores this week, the Pixel 7A, is the latest evidence of the smartphone market maturing and offers a chance to save money. The entry-level handset, priced at $500, is similar in many ways to its premium counterpart, the Pixel 7 Pro, which cost $900. And based on my testing over a week, I’d recommend the budget model for most Android users.
Please bear with me as I am breaking with the tradition of reviewing a phone’s features. Putting the Pixel 7A’s value into perspective requires a smartphone history lesson.
For most of the past decade, the biggest downside to buying Android phones over Apple’s iPhones was that they were short-lived. Most Android phones received software updates for about two years, after which they became less safe to use because they lacked protection against the latest vulnerabilities. In contrast, iPhones received updates for about six years.
Many Android phone manufacturers struggled to keep up with software updates because they depended on chips and components from many different manufacturers, and it was difficult to get new operating systems to work with all those parts.
So for a long time it made sense to spend more on an Android phone. Samsung’s high-end Galaxy smartphones, which cost around $700 to $1,000, received software updates for several years longer than other Android smartphones, in part because the South Korean manufacturer tightly controlled its hardware production.
But Google recently got a head start. In 2018, the search giant acquired handset maker HTC, allowing it to make its own mobile computer chip called Tensor. Google now manages its Pixel hardware and Android software so it can guarantee software updates for its Tensor-powered Pixel phones for at least five years.
That longer support life – coupled with Google’s Tensor making the Pixel phones faster and more efficient in their power consumption – is a consumer win.
“They want the latest features and they want it to stay secure, so those are the things we’re most focused on,” said Brian Rakowski, a Google executive who oversees the Pixel phones.
With all that in mind, the Pixel 7A, which features the same Tensor chip as the high-end Pixel, offers the best value for money among Android phones. Here’s how.
Pixel 7A vs ‘Pro’
The most obvious difference between the Pixel 7A and the more expensive Pixel is the screen. With a diagonal of 6.1 inches, the display is slightly smaller than the 6.7-inch screen of the Pixel 7 Pro. Whether that’s good or bad depends on you and your body type. For me, a slim build person, the Pixel 7A is a decent size that’s easier to handle with one hand and fits more comfortably in a pocket.
Google also says that the glass on the Pixel 7 Pro’s screen is higher quality than that of the Pixel 7A. But in my experience, all phone screens can break if dropped on a hard surface, and it’s always a better idea to use a protective case.
The other major difference between the premium and cheaper model is the camera. The Pixel 7A has a dual-lens camera, and the Pixel 7 Pro has a triple-lens system that can zoom in at a higher resolution. Otherwise, both phones contain the same camera software, including a night mode that lets them take photos in low light and a tool to sharpen blurry photos. The Pixel 7A’s camera excels at all of these features.
The most important thing on a camera is how the pictures look in daylight, because that’s how we take most of our pictures. I took pictures of my dog, Max, with both phones, and the images from the two devices looked sharp and detailed. While the photos taken with the Pixel 7 Pro’s camera looked slightly better overall, they certainly didn’t look $400 better. (You can judge it.)
Finally, the Pixel 7A’s battery lasted long enough to get me through a normal day of general use, including browsing the web and checking email, just like the Pixel 7 Pro could.
It boils down
The blurring line between budget and premium phones raises questions about the sales tactics tech companies use to market their high-end products. Companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung often say their expensive phones are for “professional” users, the high-earning street fighters who spend hours on the phone, texting, and juggling apps.
Yet the image of the pro user has become a marketing myth in the context of smartphones. In just about every profession, be it a student, a truck driver, or a white-collar worker, people rely heavily on phones — and most handsets excel at all of those jobs right now.
So choose a phone based on your needs, your body type, the operating system you prefer and the apps you use. A budget phone like the Pixel 7A might be a good fit, no matter what the marketers want you to think.
