Google Pixel 10a Review: More of the Same?

What were essentially mid-range devices into premium smartphones in India, and became Google’s Pixel a line of smartphones that evolved from what was the basis for Google’s newer smartphone lines. Though it was no longer a rational transition until the 7A, while the 8a introduced some more advanced features such as ‘high-refresh-rate display’, wireless charging and an updated chipset to keep up with the times of the day. The Pixel 9a was a complete redesign of the original, one that is still most notable today with the launch of Google 10a. No such device is available and there is no one in its segment, allowing for the same bloatware-free Pixel software experience (with the usual Pixel smarts) at all. But in this competitive premium segment, is Google’s a-series formula waterless in 2026?

Google Pixel 10a Design: Minimalist magic!

• Dimensions – 153.9 x 73 x 9mm
• Weight – 183g
• Durability – IP68

We liked Google Pixel 9a’s minimalist design, and the Pixel 10a takes things a step further even though it looks like that of nearly the same feeling as we did with its look-and feels almost exactly the way they do. This is the phone that retains its overall design similar to its predecessor, but it has lost the fine ridge around the capsule-shaped camera module and thus provides a smooth, clean look. Google decided to keep the Pixel 9a’s camera hardware in place, while the standard and Pro models have larger and thicker cameras by the year but so we still maintain the flat design that oddly feels unreal.

The Google Pixel 10a’s build-quality and finish are top-notch, with no sharp edges or panel gaps

Just keep the phone in. You just know, you feel like something’s missing around the back of your head.” The camera module, which many of us would like to use as support with our index fingers, would be this? It’s a very active camera module that physically isn’t available, and gives the smartphone an oddly unreal feeling. A flat table is a bit hard to lift, because there’s no raised part (because of the usual camera bump) that lets you hold the phone while picking it up.

If no raised camera module at the back, then is the phone’s 9mm thickness really “9m” as it says and nothing more? But unlike most other premium devices with a slim body at one end and chunky camera modules in the other, it is strangely thick (i.e. But it has a standard 5,100mAh (Li-ion) battery and wireless charging, which is ‘win in the game’.

The polycarbonate rear panel quickly turns into a smudgy mess

But a bit of worry for me is the durability of the camera glass, as in the case of . The Pixel 10a’s rear cameras have no structural protection, unlike traditional camera modules which are backed by a solid metal ring that protects each lens and could easily cause cracked glass after crashing.

The Pixel 10a’s rear camera module has been properly integrated into its rear panel

Gorilla Glass 7i has been updated to the front glass screen, which protects the display when talking about glass, a feature that talks about glasses. The frame still uses aluminium, but the rear panel is made of polycarbonate and it’s prone to dust, fingerprints and smudges even though its matte finish makes this look so clear.

Google Pixel 10a Display: Brighter than ever before

• Display size – 6.3-inch, 1,080 x 2,424 pixels (FHD+), 422 PPI
• Display type – P-OLED, 60-90-120Hz (LTPS)
• Display protection – Gorilla Glass 7i

A notable contrast to the Pixel 10a’s eloquent minimalist design is its display of it. It seems slick and contemporary, keeping track of the latest trends but power it up; you will be met with thick borders that feel out of place on a premium Android phone. This was a reminder to me of the iPhone 16e (and the new iPhone 17e) instantly by these borders, but unlike Apple’s “affordable” offering, this display has – unlike its old-school, elongated Face ID notch ‘hole-punch camera that goes out of your way.

It was a bit thick (especially after reviewing the Vivo V70 Elite) but I initially thought it was something that worried or bothered me one day later, even though I had found the bezel’very thick’. Google has also adapted its software to work well with the wide radii of its rounded corners, while Vivo’s OriginOS cut off some of their software edges a little too close to the edges.

The Pixel 10a’s display continues to have thick borders, but with bumped-up brightness levels

Apart from the bezels, brightness and colours of Super Actua-branded display are on point and come with upgrades. Now Google says there is a high-brightness mode of 2,000 nits and peak brightness mode for 3,000, or 4,000 ndits. When I was watching video outside the window, I didn’t have to squint at the display so it is certainly worth the upgrades. The touch-sampling rate, which kept up with the speed of playing fast-paced FPS games, is a good angle for viewing and so was that view angles. Am I glad to see Google providing a 120Hz LTPS panel? Nevertheless, the feature is off (or 60Hz) by default so ‘Smooth display’ has to be enabled in ‘Display and touch settings’.

Widevine L1 Full HD playback resolution is supported by the Pixel 10a with full HD video back. This is also used for its bright display, which supports HDR10 and HDRT10+ capabilities. Scripted content appears as though supported by the word “help” (as it is usually expected).

During review, the fingerprint reader embedded in the display was reliable and worked well. But unlike the Pixel 10 (Class 3) face unlock), we don’t have the more secure (class 4) face lock because selfie camera module is still the same.

Google Pixel 10a Software: Typically Pixel

• Android version – 16
• Software – Pixel UI
• Software commitment – 7 years OS + 7 years SMR

Some AI-features have been left out, as the Pixel 10a is the only 10-series smartphone that’s stuck with an older chipset. Among them is the Pixel Screenshots app, and the useful Magic Cue feature I used on thepixel 10 Pro Fold. Google sucked in Auto Best Take, a Photos tool that basically makes taking and editing faces in group photos easy to squeeze. Similarly, Camera Coach is also used to be like a Pixel -series device for snapping great photos easier (provided you are willing to learn how to do so).

In addition to the above, every standard AI feature in the Pixel 10 and Pro is available on the pixels 10a (which makes a pretty impressive statement if you like using that particular one).

Google Pixel 10a comes with a ton of customisation options

The cleanest Android interface still remains in Google Pixel UI, and Android 16 has only made things smoother and more fluid. A new AI icon-based feature, which was introduced in the latest Pixel drop, allows you to create an icon pack out of thin air with AI. This is a system similar to its AI-generated wallpapers feature, which uses select prompts to create icons that look like cookies (using some backgrounds and different colour sets and materials).

There is no problem with software performance and multitasking, everything works as it should be from a premium device. In addition to that, there’s no bloatware or third-party apps — something you will see in competing smartphones by other manufacturers.

Google Pixel 10a Performance: Not bad at all

• Processor – Google Tensor G4, 3.1GHz, 4nm
• RAM – 8GB (LPDDR5X)
• Storage – 256GB (UFS 3.1)

Google seems to have taken some of the memory costs (and even resorted to the problem with memory) by simply not changing any of its performance-related hardware at all. The chip is the same as last year’s 9a on the phone, and that applies to RAM and storage as well as for the smartphone. While software performance is smooth and fluid, our synthetic benchmark testing shows that the Pixel 10a is far less than expected compared to the OnePlus 13s but on par with Vivo V70 Elite.

| Benchmarks | Google Pixel 10a | Vivo V70 Elite | OnePlus 13s |
| — | — | — | — |
| Display resolution | FHD+ | 1.5K | 1.5K |
| Chipset | Google Tensor G4 (4nm) | Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (4nm) | Snapdragon 8 Elite (3nm) |
| AnTuTu v10 | 14,31,1143 | 18,21,492 | 24,49,859 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 15,152 | 12,897 | 14,491 |
| Geekbench 6 Single | 1,724 | 1,911 | 2,874 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi | 4,347 | 4,753 | 8,741 |
| Geekbench AI CPU (Quantized) | 3,092 | 2,196 | NA |
| Geekbench AI GPU (Quantized) | 1,306 | 993 | NA |
| 3DM Wild Life | Maxed Out | 7,848 | Maxed Out |
| 3DM Wild Life Unlimited | 9,765 | 7,866 | 23,593 |
| 3DM Steel Nomad Light | 1,104 | 647 | NA |

While playing CODM in very high graphics and framerate (very high) the phone warms up, but the telephone pulled through — managing sustained gaming is just fine. I tried Ultra frame rate with Medium graphics next, and it chugged along fine at a forced 120 FPS.

A good phone for watching movies and playing games is the sound of speakers, which have a good bass. In India there is no satellite SOS, a feature that has been featured on the i-series this year’s highlight features — Satellite S OS.

Google Pixel 10a Cameras: You get what you pay for

• Primary camera – 48-megapixel, f/1.7, PDAF, OIS
• Ultrawide camera – 13-megapixel, f/2.2, 120-degree
• Selfie camera – 13-megapixel, f/2.2

The hardware specifications above, you can tell the truth that literally nothing has changed over the older model as it is. The image (via the ISP) is also similar to the Pixel 9a, as it has been since the chipset remains the same.

We were with me on the Vivo V70 Elite and I decided to check which one is better, so that our readers can make a more informed decision when it comes to photography.

Ultrawide camera samples – Vivo V70 Elite (top), Google Pixel 10a (middle), Pixel 10a (low-light) (tap images to expand)

We begin with the ultrawide camera, which is a phrase that we use to describe our departure. A review of the ultrawide in our review compared to the Vivo V70 Elite, which produced lower-average results in broad daylight. Vivo set the bar a bit too low, but Google’s Pixel 10a is really good. For beginners, photos have perfectly natural colours compared to the V70 Elite for beginner. It is spot on sharpness, detail and dynamic range of a . But I only have a gripe with the 10a’s ultrawide camera, which is that there’s noticeable lens-barrel distortion near edges (even though it was handled well) because of the super wide 120-degree field of view (FoV)? Details (and dynamic range) are good, and noise is controlled in low-light; displaying mature image processing. Certainly the ultrawide of the Pixel 10a performs well for a Rs. premium device 50,000 , 50 per cent.

Primary camera samples – Vivo V70 Elite (top), Google Pixel 10a (middle), Pixel 10a (low-light) (tap images to expand)

Moving on to the primary, again we found that the processing of the Pixel 10a was mature compared to samples from the Vivo V70 Elite. The 10a is a natural colour, better dynamic range and more resolved detail that gives textures greater definition. A better processing of Finer details is also used compared to V70 Elite, which processed the information more accurately. The Pixel 10a’s photos are very clean with low noise, high dynamic range and good detail in the era of low-light or street-lit shooting conditions. Similarly, it plays very well with contrasting scenes as well.

TELEPO Samples from the Telephoto camera include Vivo V70 Elite 3X optical (top), Google Pixel 10a 2X (middle), Pixel 8a(low-light) (tap images to expand).

The Pixel 10a has no dedicated telephoto camera, but instead does not have a dedicated one-to-one video shooter for its own photo. But we do have a 2x lossless preset (which I used when shooting) that I did not use. A good overall image quality is surprisingly high during the daytime; there’s a slight drop in global detail or slightly fuzzy textures when processing foliage or complex patterns. The Pixel 10a still has better digital crops than the V70 Elite at 2X, but it is a more effective crop-spotting device than that of the Pixel 10, which was shot at 1X. However, it is more clearly visible in low-light settings than its flaws are. Vivo V70 Elite is the most impressive at 3X zoom, capturing sharp, detailed photos in both daylight and low light. Vivo V70 Elite even has a good detail when it uses its AI-enhanced (and high-end) 10X zoom preset.

Pixel 10a macro photos come out clear and detailed (tap image to expand)

Pixel 10a, Portrait camera sample (top), selfie camera sample (bottom) (tap images to expand)

Both primary cameras’ portrait photos are well-received but also slightly oversharpened. But I was able to get the software edge-detection slightly more accurate on the Pixel, which I found somewhat true about it. Selfies are a good detail in daylight, but as you see in the sample above, they are soft and wee bit soft in low-light.

A good video quality on the Pixel 10a is just a decent price for its value. The Vivo V70 Elite has a good dynamic range and smooth stabilisation of 4K 30 fps video recordings, which are comparable to the one that is used in 3K 30-fpms videos. But even in the day, there’s a bit of noise that makes this slightly dangerous look like it when shooting. The low-light footage is soft and loud, with a soft tone. The video, which is sharper and more contrasted with good dynamic range by Vivo (shortly shaky in stabilisation) appears to be slightly shaken up.

Google Pixel 10a Battery: Gets the job done

• Battery capacity – 5,100mAh
• Wired charging – 30W
• Wireless charging – 10W
• Charger in the box – No

But since the battery capacity and chipset are identical to last year’s Pixel 9a, overall performance is similar. Pixel 10a, like the Pixel 9a is still a one-day smartphone that has been heavily used with heavy use; when you hit the sack it will have to plug in. A casual user who does not play games or use the camera much will see slightly a better battery life than casual users, which is also known as . But don’t think it will be enough power to last even the first half of the following day, if not all at once. Similarly, PCMark’s Work Battery life test also tested 16 hours and 22 minutes for PC Mark (a measure that measures the above use cases).

The Google Pixel 10a has a large enough 5,100mAh lithium-ion battery, but it only supports 30W charging

This year, both wired and wireless charging speeds have been increased as you can tell from the pointers above. But for a premium device sold in India, the charging speeds are not impressive 42 percent charge is charged in 30 minutes and it’s done within an hour or 43 minute while being connected to – third party 100W PD charger.

Google Pixel 10a Verdict

It’s still fine to use Google’ s Pixel a-series formula for 2026, yes! Google. Google’s Pixel 10a demonstrates that not everyone needs performance-oriented hardware to achieve the best results or deliver a basic premium experience with this device. This can be seen in both its software experience as well as its cameras. But its software experience is still the best selling point of Pixel 10a and Android 16 are at its highest selling points. Pixel UI is certainly the best-in-class and choc-a-bloc with AI features, which I think is in fact the most impressive thing about Pixel. Those who like to remain on their devices for long periods of time will be sweetened by the deal, even at Rs. 7 years of software support from its own side. 50,000 , 50 per cent.

Until then, there’s the Pixel 9a which is basically the same raw performance, software experience and battery life. It is available online for purchase at around Rs. The price tag is very high, as it can be a good value for 39,999 . Unless you are looking to buy a basic Pixel device this year, so if you want one, just find ‘pixel 9a before you go for the Pixel 10a.

We read in India and there is always a lot of variety for our readers. The Vivo V70 Elite (from Rs. Another solid candidate for camera department is 51,999), mainly because of its 3-X-telephoto lens (batteries battery life and fast charging). The OnePlus 13s is also a strong contender in ‘a compact package with Snapdragon 8 Elite processor?

For those who are looking for full-blown gaming hardware, then the iQOO 13 (from Rs. What’s a good option 54,999) or . While it can play any game under the sun, with all settings maxed out, a bit short in the camera department but is still very short.

For those who want to try something new, the Apple iPhone 16e is available online for as low a Rs. 47,900 . It is good battery life and performance, but a short time at every corner of the world (including its cameras) it’s not so good.