With all the talks about tariffs that increase costs, the word “cheaper” should bring more comfort. Therefore, I am pleased to share that the cheaper smartphone from Google has arrived, several months after Apple released somewhat cheaper iPhone at the basic level-and both products are very good.
Google has released this week Pixel 9a$ 500 of its flagship sibling of $ 800, Pixel 9. Compens directly with $ 600 iPhone 16e released in February, cheaper version of the Apple $ 800 iPhone 16.
Both new phones have clamps where people take care of the most – great cameras, nice screens, zippy speeds, modern software and long battery life. To reduce the cost, some Fancier accessories, such as advanced camera functions, will omit.
Is it a wise idea to save some grandmothers, or to spend more on Fanier phones? To find out, I attached myself to the Fanny package and carried all four phones in the last week to perform the tests.
As a result: As often as it is, you get what you pay for. 800 $ phones are slightly better in terms of features and performance than cheaper versions and $ 600 is faster and has a better camera than a Pixel $ 500.
But more importantly, cheaper pixel and iPhone were almost indistinguishable from their $ 800 counterparts in several of my tests. In some cases, such as battery life, cheaper phones were even better.
The future of telephone prices remains uncertain, but the costs are likely to increase. On Wednesday, when President Trump announced a break of most “reciprocal” tariffs, he increased tariffs to China, where many phones are produced. So many of us can soon be motivated to compromise and consider cheaper alternatives.
Apple refused to comment on whether this would increase the prices of their phones, but analysts estimate that tariffs could increase the cost of some iPhone 16 models for anywhere from $ 1,300 2 300 $. Google said there was no planned price changes for $ 500 for Pixel 9a, but refused to express whether it would change the price of its 800 pixels 9.
Cheaper iPhone and Pixel look almost identical to their more expensive siblings. Here’s an overview of how they compare:
Screen on phones are the same size. (IPhones measure 6.1 diagonal thumbs and pixels measure 6.3 diagonal thumbs). The iPhone 16e screen is slightly more dark than the iPhone 16, but the difference is hard to see.
Both cheaper phones lack some camera features Found on more expensive versions. The Pixel 9A camera sensor is smaller than Pixel 9, which means it captures less detail and light. The iPhone 16E has two camera lenses instead of two, so it cannot create certain types of special effects, such as “Ultrawide” photos with a wider field of view for picturesque Grand Canyon shots.
Both cheaper phones are slightly less powerful than their nicer counterparts. All four phones include the same computer processors. However, Pixel 9A has fewer memory to start multiple applications at the same time and the iPhone 16e has a slightly weaker unit for processing graphics for running games with severe animation.
IPhone 16e lacks the iPhone 16’s Magsafe featureIt uses a magnet to connect accessories such as power chargers and wallets to the back of the phone. However, the phone can still be charged wirelessly, but using a slower charging standard called Qi.
Both phones can use artificial intelligence. The iPhone 16E can use Apple Intelligence to summarize the text, generate images, and remove photographic bombers from images. And Pixel 9A can run AI Google, including Gemini Chatbot and similar photo editing tools. However, both companies are still developing their AI software, which remains largely unfinished, so this feature may not be so important to most phone users.
Battery
The long battery life is high on the list of priorities for people who buy a new phone, and the cheaper Pixel 9A and the iPhone 16e are clear winners here. They have larger batteries partly because they have more space for them because the phones lack some of the features found in their extraordinary counterparts.
The iPhone 16e and Pixel 9A lasted about a day and a half with general use, including web browsing, video photography and playback before their batteries have been exhausted. IPhone 16 and Pixel 9 took about a day.
Camera tests
The disadvantages of buying cheaper phones were most significant in their cameras.
I took my Corgi, Max, to the park to take a picture of it under various lighting conditions, including bright daylight, in the shade and partially overshadowed areas. Generally, photographs were taken with both pixel 9A and Pixel 9, with precise colors.
However, the weaknesses of Pixel 9A were visible in more demanding lighting conditions, for example, when Max was sitting on a shaded road with sunlight by filing trees. Pixel 9a tried to distinguish light from the shadow and max looked blowing the sun. (Pixel 9 did well in this situation.)
When I tested the iPhone 16e and iPhone 16 cameras, they excelled in all these tests and the results were almost indistinguishable.
Both iPhone phones have surpassed pixels phones when shooting videos. Videos recorded by the maximum walk through the park was clearer and smoother on the iPhone; Pixel’s videos looked Choppier.
The main disadvantage of the cheaper camera for the iPhone is just what he can’t do. Because the iPhone 16e lacks a second lens, I couldn’t make an ultrawide shot Max that runs in the field of grass.
Speed
More expensive phones slightly overcome cheaper phones in terms of speed.
According to Geekbench with speed testing, Pixel 9A is 4 percent slower than Pixel 9 and the iPhone 16e is 3 percent slower than the iPhone 16.
When using phones in the real world, most people probably will not notice the difference. When I put the phones side by side and launched various applications and games, their performance seemed about the same.
What does that mean to you
If you usually care that you have a smartphone with a long battery life and a good camera, you would be satisfied with the iPhone 16e or Pixel 9A. But if you take care of one of the premium features that are missing from the cheaper phones, such as taking more detailed, better looking photos or using Apple’s Magsafe to charge the iPhone, then there is more great idea.
Prepare to think of a smartphone as a longer -term investment, a similar car, because the prices are likely to increase soon.
