After months of a news vacuum that left us wondering whether Google had abandoned its midrange lineup, the company quietly announced the Pixel 5a with 5G ($449). (The launch comes just weeks after the tech giant announced a complete redesign, inside and out, for its upcoming Pixel 6.) Though the Pixel 5a with 5G doesn’t have a 90Hz display or wireless charging, and it comes with 6GB of RAM instead of 8GB, it’s otherwise nearly identical to last year’s Pixel 5 ($699). It has the same camera stack, same aluminum unibody frame, and same IP67 rating. The price drop brings the Pixel 5a’s flagship-level features into the midrange realm, where it easily outshines the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G ($499.99), the Editors’ Choice–winning Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G ($699.99) and every other midrange phone we’ve tested. It packs enough power for most tasks, has outstanding cameras, and finally has a battery that lasts a full day. That makes the Pixel 5a with 5G our new Editors’ Choice in its class.
Built Like a Volvo
The Pixel 5a doesn’t look like your average smartphone. It’s sort of like a vintage Volvo: boxy and utilitarian, yet incredibly handsome. The phone comes in one color, called Mostly Black, but the name is deceiving. It’s the color of a ripe olive, deep green with hints of brown.
Measuring 6.1 by 2.9 by 0.3 inches (HWD), the Pixel 5a is the same size as the Google Pixel 4a 5G, but it manages to pack in a larger display. At 6.5 ounces, it’s on the heavier side, but its weight is well distributed, and we had no problem holding it during a long commute.
A 6.34-inch OLED display with a hole punch dominates the front of the phone. Resolution clocks in at 2,400 by 1,080 pixels with a 413ppi density. Color accuracy is spot on, with an excellent contrast ratio and deep, inky blacks. The viewing angles are excellent, and the display is bright enough to use in direct sunlight.
The back of the Pixel 5a is identical to the more expensive Pixel 5. The aluminum unibody design has a slightly textured finish that feels wonderful in the hand. A square camera module is in the upper left corner, and a nearly invisible fingerprint sensor that’s both fast and accurate sits centered in the top third.
A 3.5mm headphone jack is on the phone’s top edge, while dual speaker grilles and a USB-C charging port make their home on the bottom edge. The SIM slot is on the left side of the phone, with the volume rocker and textured power button across from it on the right. The buttons are easy to identify and reach, but the volume rocker offers almost no tactile feedback when pressed.
Durability is excellent. The Pixel 5a’s aluminum frame can easily handle drops and dings without much damage. The strengthened glass display panel will resist scratches and minor drops. The Pixel 5a is also Google’s first a-series phone with an IP67 rating, so you won’t need to worry about accidental drops in the tub.
Always Connected
The Pixel 5a ships unlocked with eSIM support, in addition to a traditional single SIM slot. There’s support for Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS) if you want to use one SIM for calls and the other for messaging. It works on all US carriers’ 4G networks, as well as AT&T and T-Mobile’s mid-band 5G networks. There’s also C-band support, as there was on the Pixel 4a 5G. Google has yet to announce a mmWave version of the Pixel 5a.
We tested the phone on T-Mobile’s 5G network in Chicago and recorded average speeds of 128.4Mbps down and 54.9Mbps up. These aren’t the gigabit-busting speeds you’ll find with mmWave connectivity, but they were consistent throughout our tests, and would be more than sufficient for taking video calls or streaming long videos without glitches.
There’s dual-band Wi-Fi on board; no Wi-Fi 6, though. NFC is present for mobile payments. There’s also Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX-HD and LDAC codecs for wireless audio.
Overall call quality is excellent. Earpiece volume maxes out at 86dB and is loud enough to hear on a busy sidewalk. Noise cancellation works perfectly.
The Pixel 5a’s audio is decent. Maximum volume clocks in at 94dB, but the soundstage is unbalanced. Timbre is brassy with mids pushed forward and lows disappearing into the background. In short, the speakers are fine for watching Instagram Stories, but you’ll want to take advantage of the 3.5mm headphone jack or good Bluetooth headphones for gaming or streaming music.
Pixel-Perfect Photos
The Pixel 5a ships with the same outstanding camera module as you’ll find on the more expensive Pixel 5. On the back of the phone are a 12.2MP f/1.7 primary sensor and a 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide lens. The primary sensor has autofocus with dual phase detection, as well as optical and electronic image stabilization (OIS/EIS). The ultra-wide lens has a 107-degree field of view, but OIS and EIS are missing. The front-facing camera clocks in at 8MP with an f/2.0 aperture.
It should come as no surprise that the Pixel 5a’s photos are identical to those you’ll get from the Pixel 5. The Pixel 5a may not sport high-megapixel sensors, but it easily outdoes its midrange competition and gives flagships a run for their money.
The primary 12.2MP sensor performs well in all lighting conditions. In daylight, the Pixel 5a captures crisp images with excellent depth of field. Texture is rich and color accuracy is spot on.
In low light, Google’s expertise in computational photography really shows. Test shots have incredible clarity and natural depth of field. Lighting is even and the noise-to-texture ratio is excellent.
Although the Pixel 5a’s primary lens steals the show, its ultra-wide lens is no slouch. In good light, ultra-wide shots are well composed with natural color and excellent depth of field. There’s some minor loss of fine detail, but you’ll be hard pressed to notice it unless you view images at full size.
Foreground detail is crisp in low light, but backgrounds are slightly soft. Very low-light conditions result in some minor depth loss. Again, the noise-to-texture ratio is incredible, and distortion is nonexistent.
The 8MP selfie camera performs well in just about any lighting scenario. Selfies are crisp with excellent color accuracy and even exposure. Depth mapping worked perfectly in portrait mode.
Video capture on the rear lens maxes out at 240fps in 1080p and 60fps in 4K. Video recorded at 60fps in 4K is crisp and smooth, with accurate color and natural depth of field.
The Samsung Galaxy A52 5G is the Pixel 5a’s closest competition in terms of price, but when it comes to imaging quality, the 5a runs circles around the A52 in any lighting scenario. In comparison tests, the Pixel 5a’s photos looked more natural and crisper, and had better depth of field. In low light, the A52 5G struggled, showing noticeable issues with HDR and object segmentation.
Since the Pixel 5a’s cameras are flagship-quality, we tested it alongside the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and the Apple iPhone 12 and were surprised by the results.
Both the iPhone 12 and the Pixel 5a can take incredible shots, but we found that Google’s midrange handset performs better in low light. In our low-light comparison, the Pixel 5a’s photos had better depth of field and background detail on both the primary and ultra-wide lenses. In good light, the phones perform similarly, though Google arguably does a better job with exposure consistency.
And though the Samsung Galaxy 21 Ultra costs more than twice as much as the Pixel 5a, the two phones had similar camera performance. In good light, the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s photos had better background detail, but the Pixel 5a led in color accuracy and contrast ratio.
In low light, the Pixel 5a did a better job with fine detail and texture, but there was more noise in the photos. Object segmentation and depth of field were better on the Galaxy S21 Ultra, but we noticed noise reduction created some blurring and texture loss.
What sets flagships apart from the Pixel 5a is the inclusion of a dedicated telephoto lens. The 5a doesn’t have one, and it doesn’t do well with more than 2X zoom. If a zoom lens is essential, we think the Galaxy S21 Ultra is your best bet.
More Than Enough Power
A Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G SoC and 6GB of RAM power the Pixel 5a. Storage clocks in at 128GB, and there’s about 111GB available out of the box. There’s no microSD slot for external storage.
We were impressed by the Pixel 5a’s performance. It can easily handle any task you throw its way. Apps open instantaneously and there’s zero lag when multitasking with dozens of Chrome windows open. Even Night Mode photos, which took several seconds to process on the Pixel 4a 5G, work smoothly on the 5a.
Gaming is a win on the Pixel 5a. We spent a few hours playing Genshin Impact and Alto’s Odyssey and didn’t encounter any hiccups. Both games loaded quickly and there was no lag or skipped frames.
Although we couldn’t run our usual suite of benchmarks on the Pixel 5a, it has the same Snapdragon mobile platform, RAM, and storage as the Pixel 5. We believe the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G would outpace the 5a in nearly all our benchmark tests. But to be perfectly honest, though the Galaxy A52 5G may have impressive scores on Geekbench, it’s downright sluggish with day-to-day use. This difference between benchmark scores and actual performance exemplify why our views on smartphone benchmarks have changed over the past year. What really matters is how it feels to use the phone. The Pixel 5a ran smoothly in all scenarios and we had no complaints.
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At 4,685mAh, the 5a’s battery is the largest Pixel battery ever. In our battery drain test, which streams HD video over Wi-Fi at full brightness, it managed to hold out for 12 hours and 9 minutes before shutting down. With more conservative use, you could likely skip a day between charges.
There’s an 18W charger in the box for fast charging. Unfortunately, wireless charging is not included.
Should You Wait for Google’s Tensor Chip?
It probably comes as no surprise that the Pixel 5a doesn’t have Google’s custom Tensor SoC, which will debut in the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. Pixel a-series phones have always been Google’s affordable option, not the most cutting-edge one. We think the Pixel 5a is an incredible value and Google’s best midrange phone to date.
Google’s upcoming Tensor SoC will simply address a problem we’ve noticed over the past year: We’ve hit an inflection point in smartphone CPU/GPU performance. Sure, Qualcomm releases a flagship Snapdragon 8-series mobile platform each year, with incredible power and ever-greater efficiency. But does the average person really need it? And entry-level SoCs like the Snapdragon 480 sometimes outpace midrange offerings like the Snapdragon 678, even though the two were released within a month of each other.
In fact, the CPU cores and clock speeds on most Snapdragon mobile platforms are not as important as their sub-elements and co-processors. The DSP, GPU, ISP, and other components set each of Qualcomm’s mobile platforms apart because they handle the most complex AI and machine learning tasks. And the Pixel 5a’s Snapdragon 765G mobile platform has enough power to handle just about any task, plus solid components for all the AI and machine learning processes that go on in the background.
It’s likely that the Tensor SoC will have a few marquee features that will never trickle down to the a-series, but the phones that use it will also be far more expensive than the Pixel 5A. In short, there’s no need to wait for the Tensor SoC unless you’re willing to shell out for a flagship with all the bells and whistles.
OS Upgrades on Tap
The Pixel 5a ships with Android 11. Pixels run a stock version of Android with a few tweaks from Google that eventually make their way to other Android phones.
One of the most useful Pixel-first features is Live View with Location Sharing. The feature lets you share your location with friends and family, and even provides turn-by-turn instructions so they can get to you faster.
Another Pixel-first feature we love is Smart Reply. The feature uses machine learning to provide contextual responses in many of the most common chat apps, much as you’ve probably seen in Gmail and Google Docs. It’s pretty basic at first, but it becomes smarter as you continue to use the feature.
Expect to see an Android 12 upgrade soon. Android 12 is more than an iterative update; it’s a massive redesign of the OS. Google’s Material You update includes smoother animations and transitions, updated app icons, and an improved Settings menu.
Perhaps more important than its aesthetic refresh are Android 12’s improved privacy and security features. Android Private Compute Core powers these changes. It ensures that every app follows your preferred privacy settings and provides a privacy dashboard with an overview of all the apps using sensitive elements like the cameras, microphone, and GPS location.
Google provides three years of OS upgrades and security updates. Since the phone ships with Android 11, that means the last OS upgrade for the Pixel 5a will be Android 14 in 2023. Google is also the only smartphone maker that provides instant OS upgrades.
The Best Midrange Phone, Period
The Google Pixel 5a with 5G is an incredible midrange offering, and well deserving of our Editors’ Choice award. It has plenty of power, a crisp OLED display, excellent battery life, and some of the best cameras you’ll find on any smartphone. At $449, it’s a better value than the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G ($699.99), the previous mid-tier title holder.
In fact, it’s hard to find much fault with the Pixel 5a at all. Sure, it may not have wireless charging or a display with a high refresh rate, but it performs like a champ and has the same durable build quality of the more expensive Google Pixel 5. And though Google only offers a sub-6GHz version of the Pixel 5a for now, it seems likely that a mmWave version for Verizon will be announced in the very near future. If you’re looking for a 5G phone that delivers outstanding performance and features for the price, the Pixel 5a should be the top contender.
