Apple lately made its grand (re)entrance to the mid-range smartphone market with the iPhone 16e, changing the older iPhone SE variant. After all, now the one factor to do is see the way it compares to probably the greatest mid-range smartphones round, the newly launched Google Pixel 9a.
Each telephones present a whole lot of worth for these searching for a flagship-like expertise for a a lot lower cost, however there are advantages and downsides to every. Let’s get into it.
Google Pixel 9a vs. iPhone 16e
Two telephones enter, however just one can slot in your pocket. Which is able to it’s?
Value and specs
The Pixel 9a is a good worth.
Credit score: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
In terms of value, there’s a clearly superior possibility right here. The Pixel 9a begins at $499, whereas the iPhone 16e begins at $599. Whereas $100 is not the largest distinction on the planet of flagships, it is a big quantity for anybody out there for a finances telephone.
Here is what you get within the Pixel 9a for that value:
And for $100 extra, that is what the iPhone 16e will get you:
We’ll get into show and efficiency evaluation later, however Google is definitely successful the worth sport to date. You get an even bigger and (in some methods) higher show and an even bigger battery for much less cash. Apple, to its credit score, provides extra storage choices, however these will solely make the telephone much more costly; the 512GB iPhone 16e is $899, which makes it not even actually a finances telephone anymore.
Design
Apple saved it easy.
Credit score: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Neither of those telephones are on the chopping fringe of smartphone design, however that is not essentially a foul factor.
The iPhone 16e, for its half, seems like a barely older iPhone mannequin. It would not have the standalone Dynamic Island cutout on the prime of the show such as you’d see in a current flagship iPhone, as an alternative going for the basic notch look. There isn’t any house button, which differentiates it from the outdated iPhone SE fashions, however there is not one on the Pixel 9a, both. Sadly, it solely is available in two very boring colours: black and white.
Google’s mid-range telephone is barely bolder in its design. Particularly, Google went and eliminated the horizontal rear digicam bar that had develop into such an iconic a part of the Google Pixel look over the previous few years. Now, the rear digicam is barely noticeable, missing even a bump to make it stand out. That is fairly good in case you like your telephone to lie utterly flat on a desk, but it surely does make the Pixel 9a seem like a generic telephone prop in a TV present.
Mashable Mild Pace
That stated, the Pixel 9a provides 4 colours, twice as many because the iPhone 16e. There are black and white choices, in addition to one known as “Iris” and a beautiful pink colorway that must be the one one anybody buys, in my humble opinion.
Show
Google’s show is superior.
Credit score: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
In my eyes, there is a fairly definitive winner within the show class.
Pixel 9a’s show shouldn’t be solely barely larger (although that may really be problematic for folk with smaller palms), however its refresh price is twice as excessive. Not everybody values this as a lot as I do, however clean scrolling is very good to have on a smartphone, and it is just a little wild that Apple remains to be so behind the instances on this problem in every little thing apart from iPhone Professional fashions. You additionally stand up to 2,700 nits of peak brightness, which makes it nice for outside use.
Apple’s panel is not dangerous, by any means. Its 2532×1170 decision is barely larger than what Pixel 9a provides (2424×1080), and it’s an OLED display with HDR help. Nonetheless, with simply 1,200 nits of peak brightness, it possible will not look pretty much as good below daylight because the Pixel 9a.
Efficiency
Apple went with USB-C for this one, which is sweet.
Credit score: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
In terms of efficiency, there actually is not a dropping selection right here.
Each telephones are wonderful by way of day-to-day use. Apps load rapidly and neither telephone slows down an excessive amount of when there are too many open. I did discover the Pixel 9a getting just a little heat to the contact after extended use, however a case might simply alleviate that.
If you wish to put it in numbers and technically select a winner, it will be Apple. The iPhone 16e’s Geekbench benchmarking metrics are higher than Pixel 9a’s, with Apple netting a 7,423 multi-core rating and Google coming in at simply 4,358. Nonetheless, on a sensible stage, both telephone will just do high quality for you.
Battery life
Each telephones have good battery life.
Credit score: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
Battery life is one other space the place you possibly can solely win.
In my testing, the Pixel 9a was kind of a 24-hour machine between fees, and will in all probability last more in case you turned the refresh price right down to 60Hz or took different power-saving measures. I by no means immediately examined the iPhone 16e myself, however our reviewer Stan Schroeder famous that he was in a position to go about two days between fees on what he described as “heavy use.”
It is attainable, then, that the additional money you pay for the iPhone 16e is getting you a greater battery than what is accessible on Pixel 9a. Nonetheless, I would not describe the Pixel 9a’s battery as “bad” by any means. It is simply much less good.
Digicam
The iPhone 16e takes good nighttime photographs.
Credit score: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Each the iPhone 16e and Pixel 9a have similar (by way of megapixels) 48MP primary shooters on the rear facet. Nonetheless, Apple solely included the one digicam lens on the telephone’s bottom, whereas the Pixel 9a additionally has an extra 13MP ultra-wide lens.
Since these are each finances telephones, cameras are the place the largest compromises are to be anticipated. That stated, you possibly can positively get nice-looking photographs on both the Pixel 9a or iPhone 16e. One good bonus that the Pixel 9a has over the Pixel 8a is the addition of Macro Focus, which helps you to stand up actual near tiny objects and seize them in nice element. Sadly, the iPhone 16e would not have this characteristic in any respect, as a result of lack of an ultra-wide lens.
Provided that Google’s telephone has that additional lens and a minimum of one characteristic the iPhone 16e cannot declare, I am inclined to suppose the Pixel 9a has a greater digicam system.
