Google Needs a Hit with the Pixel 4a (Premium)

Last year, the Pixel 3a family was a surprise hit for Google’s struggling smartphone business. Can it duplicate that success in 2020?

Possibly. Based on many, many leaks, the upcoming Pixel 4a does bring forward most of what customers liked about its predecessor, and it even offers a nice improvement in a key area that was a problem for the Pixel 3a. But Google is also making one big mistake with this release. And it means that I won’t be buying one. I suspect I’m not alone.

So let me get the bad news out of the way first. Thanks to a wellspring of leaks, we now know basically everything we need to know about the Pixel 4a, and its one step backward is glaringly obvious: Where the Pixel 3a came in two screen sizes, 5.6-inches (3a) and 6-inches (3a XL), the 4a will only come in one screen size, and it’s the wrong one. That is, there apparently won’t be a Pixel 4a XL, and Google will only ship this phone in the smaller size.

One might argue that Google knows its customer base, knows which versions of each handset have sold well, and where. Others might think the evidence points to the contrary: That Google’s smartphone business is a failure, and it’s a failure because Google simply hasn’t a clue about what works and what doesn’t.

I’m going to offer up a third option, however: I believe that the relative success of the Pixel 3a lineup triggered an understanding within Google that its smartphone business can’t effectively compete against market leaders like Samsung and Apple. And that positioning the Pixel lineup as a premium product line was a mistake. If the rumors are true, and I hope they are, Google’s next flagships—the Pixel 5 and 5 XL—will be mid-range handsets and will be priced accordingly.

And that, I believe, is what informed Google’s decision to not ship a larger Pixel 4a XL this spring. Instead, it will offer a single smaller version and offer up the larger display option as one of many advantages of the Pixel 5 series, which will be more expensive but should still undercut rivals flagships by a wide margin. Again, if those rumors are true.

Aside from the lack of an XL model, however, the Pixel 4a is all good news, and this handset meets or exceeds the capabilities of the Pixel 3a in every way.

According to all those leaks, the Pixel 4a will be powered by a mid-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 730, as opposed to the Snapdragon 855 found in the Pixel 4. This is an 8 nm octa-core design with six high-efficiency cores and two high-performance cores, and is a minor step up from the Snapdragon 670 in the Pixel 3a series. I suspect it will offer roughly the same level of performance, if not a small improvement.

The RAM story is interesting: The Pixel 4a will provide 6 GB of RAM, which is a huge improvement over the 4 GB of RAM in the Pixel 3a series; it also matches the 6 GB of RAM in Google’s current Pixel 4 flagships.

One of the big dings against the Pixel 3a line was that they could be had with only 64 GB of non-expandable storage, and Google didn’t even offer 128 GB as a purchase-time upgrade. But here, things are improving nicely: Yes, the base model will still offer a paltry 64 GB of storage, but 128 GB will be available as an option. As good, that storage will be faster, too: The Pixel 4a will utilize UFS 2.1 storage, which is much faster than the awful eMMC storage found in the Pixel 3a series. (Flagship handsets today typically utilize UFS 3, which is even faster.)

The display is also getting upgraded: Where the Pixel 3a provided a 5.6-inch 2220 x 1080 OLED display at 441 pixels-per-inch (PPI), the Pixel 4a will offer a slightly-bigger 5.81-inch 2340 x 1080 OLED display. But the more important news here is the design: Where the Pixel 3a offered an old-fashioned front fascia with huge top (forehead) and bottom (chin) bezels, the Pixel 4a will offer a friendly-looking curved and consistently-sized bezel that, to my eyes, is very reminiscent of modern iPhones (minus the notch).

That modern design continues on the back of the device, where Google has placed a cuter and less capable version of the weird Pixel 4 camera array. But we’re not getting multiple lenses here, of course. Instead, the Pixel 4a will provide a single 12.2 MP primary lens (with autofocus, optical image stabilization, and electronic image stabilization) that appears to be identical to that provided with the Pixel 3a series. And that’s fine: The Pixel 3a still takes great photos. And it looks like the 4a will match the Pixel 4 line’s video capabilities too, an upgrade over the 3a series.

The front-facing camera is likewise identical to that in its predecessor, it’s an 8 MP selfie lens with an 84° field of view. But instead of being mounted in a large bezel, it will peek out through a hole-punch in the display. Combined with that nice all-around bezel, it looks modern and attractive.

The battery is also being upgraded a bit: Where the Pixel 3a provided a 3000 mAh battery, the Pixel 4a arrives with a slightly bigger 3080 mAh battery. There’s no wireless charging, which makes sense to me, but the Pixel 4a will support 18-watt fast charging, like the Pixel 3a, and it will include an 18-watt charger.

Audio is expected to be similar to the 3a as well: Decent stereo speakers and, yes, a headphone jack.

One of my favorite things about the Pixel 3a series was its polycarbonate body, and it looks like the 4a will continue this welcome trend. There will be at least two colors—Just Black and Barely Blue (replacing the fun Purple-ish option from the 3a)—but many of the leaks have shown a Clearly White version, so I’d be surprised if that wasn’t available as well.

As for pricing, this is where things get really interesting: The Pixel 4a will cost $399, and I imagine that upgrading to 128 GB will cost an additional $50. That’s a nice price point, but it also falls short of the expected $350 entry price for the iPhone SE, which provides much better components and is much more future-proof.

The timing is unclear, though the most recent leaks have included peeks at the Pixel 4a retail packaging. Google announced the Pixel 3a series at Google I/O last year in May, but I/O 2020 has been canceled. So I suspect we’ll see it by the end of May, but given next week’s iPhone SE and OnePlus 8 announcements, plus Samsung’s inexpensive new A-series handsets, sooner would be better.

Anyway. I won’t be buying one because of the small display. But this looks like a solid entry for anyone who prefers a smaller screen size and wants a clean Android install that’s devoid of crapware. I really like that Google is pushing back on high prices, and any emphasis on this part of the market, from Google and its competitors, should be applauded.