Pixel 7 vs Pixel 7a - Why I Wouldn’t Wait!
I am full of antici——pation. The Pixel 7a should be announced on May 10, with it shipping in June. Soon, if you’re looking for a Pixel, you’ll have one more to choose from in the under $1000 market. The a-series from Google tends to be the budget competitor, but usually comes with really nice high-end features. So a lot of people are wondering if this will be a better choice than the Pixel 7 which released in fall 2022. Let’s compare the Pixel 7, which I just reviewed on the channel, with the upcoming Pixel 7a. All of these specs are based on current leaks and rumors - so if anything changes on May 10th, I’ll list those changes as a community tab post, and a pinned comment below.
Let’s start with aesthetics, size, and style. The 7 came in these 3 colors, but the 7a will come in white, gray, and this really pretty sky blue colorway, to match rumors of some new blue Pixel Buds. While the 7a looks extremely similar in terms of design to the 7, it’ll have smaller dimensions and come with a display size of 6.1 inches, but we’re seeing reports that the screens will be identical in terms of refresh rate and resolution. It’ll likely be water resistant at IP67, ever so slightly lower resistance than the 7.
In terms of construction and materials: instead of the premium glass backs, the 7a will be plastic with polycarbonate - though that might be a perk for some folks if you’re worried about glass scratching or cracks. Not to mention, plastic is lighter too, so if you want a smaller form factor and a lighter weight that could be a bonus.
I’m expecting wireless charging based on rumors, though it’ll probably be a slower standard, and a battery at less than 5000 mAh. I’m really surprised by the rumors about wireless charging because the A-series has never had wireless charging before - so this is a quality spec a lot of people will probably want.
The camera will likely be a front facing one at 13 MP and dual rear cameras at 64 MP and a 13 MP ultrawide.
The 7a should come with the same Tensor G2 chipset but only come with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. That won’t do the job for my use cases of editing 4k footage and storing waaaaay too many videos locally for my youtube shorts, but may be totally fine for non-content creators.
We probably won’t see face unlock on the new 7a but I’d like to be wrong here, the more convenience you offer for security, the better positioned consumers will be to secure all the things. Some recent rumors are speculating face unlock will be included but it’ll probably still be 2D, meaning you’ll have to use the fingerprint sensor for app unlocking or payments. I also don’t know if we’ll see a built in VPN on the phone, or bluetooth or NFC - I haven’t seen any reports on those specs.
Currently, the price of a Pixel 7 is $599. But I’ve seen this thing drop to as low as $450 unlocked. At this point, I wouldn’t recommend the 6a since the new 7a will get an extra year of support, upgrades, and security patches. It’ll also come with Android 13 out of the box. The 7a reportedly will cost $500. If that’s true, that price is super close to the 7.
Of course, I’m curious if any of these leaked specs do end up being true. We should find out soon. If the price really is $500… I might recommend people who need an upgrade now hit up the 7 for the bigger battery, faster charge time, and large storage size option at $100 difference if that doesn’t break the budget, that might be a better option.
I’ll report on the final announced phone when it comes out, hopefully I’ll get one in studio to test for yall as well. If there’s anything in particular you want me to focus on in testing let me know down below. Bye, yall!
