Google released the Google Pixel 4 series in October 2019. Within this series, Google gave their users an option for a lower cost phone announced a year later in August 2020 with the Pixel 4a. Let's see if the more recent, budget-friendly model is worth it or if you're better off spending on the standard Pixel 4.

Camera

The Pixel 4a comes with a single 12MP rear camera, while the Pixel 4 showcases 2 lenses including a 12MP camera and 16MP telephoto lens. That said, you're not sacrificing much with Google's Pixel 4a budget phone, save the ability for 2x optical zoom.

Battery

When you're looking at budget model phones, you're likely to see a decrease in battery capacity. However, this is not the case when it comes to comparing the Pixel 4 to the Pixel 4a. Google actually increased the battery size in the 4a from 2,800 mAh in the Pixel 4 to 3,140 mAh. That might give you an extra hour of battery life on a single charge, but still expect only around 8-9 hours of juice on the Pixel 4a depending on your usage.

Display

The Pixel 4a got a very slight OLED screen size increase measuring at 5.8 inches compared to the Pixel 4, which has a 5.7-inch screen. You will find more of a difference in quality despite both phones having about the same screen resolution. The Pixel 4a screen simply isn't as vibrant as the Pixel 4 and doesn't support the 90 Hz refresh rate that the latter provides for a smoother scrolling and gaming experience.

Storage

Both phones come with internal storage options of 128 GB, but the Pixel 4 has an additional option for less storage at 64 GB.

Processor

The processing system is probably where you'll notice the biggest trade-off between the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4a. The Pixel 4 comes equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, but Google opted to cut costs when they introduced the Pixel 4a with the slightly more outdated Snapdragon 730G. The 730G is certainly still a capable mobile processor, but the Pixel 4a will be noticeably slower if you tend to be a heavier phone user that needs multiple apps for gaming, streaming and photo/video editing.

The bottom line is that if you need a lower-cost smartphone option out of the Google Pixel series, you're going to find that the Pixel 4a is a great buy that doesn't sacrifice too much compared to the Pixel 4. Most average users won't notice much of a difference at all, but if you need the extra processing speeds for heavier daily usage, then you'll probably be happier paying the extra money for the Pixel 4.