Google Pixel 8a vs Pixel 7a

If you’ve been eyeing the new Google Pixel 8a, you’re probably wondering why you should shell out a few extra bucks for a phone that at first glance looks like last year’s Pixel 7a. After all, they’re both touted as perhaps the best camera phones in their respective price ranges. And we mostly agree.

Just by looking at the spec sheets, it’s pretty clear that the upgrades this year are pretty modest. But there’s more than meets the eye, as is almost always the case. Stay tuned to see if the $100 price difference is justified by the newer model.

Table of contents:

To get started you can: compare full spec sheets or continue directly with our editor’s review in the following text.

Size comparison

The newer Pixel 8a is nearly identical in size to the Pixel 7a. And that’s no surprise: the two devices share the same screen diagonal and largely the same hardware and design language.

However, the Pixel 8a’s body is now more rounded. The sharp corners of the Pixel 7a are gone. We believe that the design of the former makes the device more comfortable to hold. The rounded corners provide a more secure and comfortable grip.

Display comparison

While the specs suggest minimal changes to the display, the newer 8a has a much better OLED panel.

Two of the most notable improvements are the 120Hz refresh rate (up from 90Hz) and the brightness. The 8a can handle up to 1,500 nitswhich is a score worthy of being considered a flagship, while the 7a settles for just over 1,000 nits.

It’s clear that the Pixel 8a has the better panel: it’s faster and brighter at the same time, there’s no doubt about that.

Battery life

Since we tested the Pixel 7a before implementing our new battery life testing routine, we have to rely on our old battery tests for this direct comparison.

The data shows a slight increase in battery life across all scenarios on the newer model, with the Pixel 8a having slightly longer call times, web browsing and video playback scores. The overall difference is pretty small, though.

Loading speed

Surprisingly, the Pixel 7a appears to charge slightly faster than its successor. The difference is largely negligible, with the 7a beating the 8a by a few percentage points at the 15 and 30 minute marks, and charging to 100% is 12 minutes faster.

Both devices share the same 18W PD charging standard via wired and 7.5W wireless charging. The newer Pixel 8a’s slower charging times could possibly be attributed to its slightly larger battery. Either way, we wouldn’t recommend basing your decision on charging speed as the two devices are effectively equally slow.

Speaker test

Given their identical loudness scores, you’d assume the Pixel 8a and 7a share the same speakers. We can’t say for sure, but the 8a definitely has a different sound tuning, and a better one at that. At least, according to subjective assessment.

The Pixel 8a has more pronounced bass and mids, resulting in a fuller overall sound, while the 7a favors the treble a bit more. Either way, the 8a sounds better.

Performance

As expected, the newer Pixel 8a is the more powerful handset of the two. It uses a Google Tensor G3 SoC based on the 4nm manufacturing process, while the Pixel 7a relies on Google’s top-of-the-line hardware from last year – Tensor G2 on the 5nm node.

The base storage variant remains unchanged from last year at 8GB/128GB, but the newer 8a adds a much-needed 8GB/256GB option.

Benchmark performance

As expected, the Pixel 8a is more powerful than the Pixel 7a, thanks to its Tensor G3 chipset. In the CPU-intensive Geekbench 6 benchmark, the G3 outperforms the G2 by about 20%, while in the AnTuTu 10 combined test scenario, the G3 comes out ahead of the G2 by about 25%. The GPU-intensive 3DMark Wild Life sees a similar performance gap – 27% in the G3’s favor.

Camera comparison

The Pixel 8a borrows its camera hardware from the 7a, so going into this comparison we weren’t expecting any huge differences. Both devices share the same cameras: a 64MP main camera (f/1.9, 26mm) complemented by a 13MP ultra-wide lens (f/2.2, 120˚).

The 13 MP selfie camera (f/2.2, 20mm) also remains the same.

Image quality

As expected, there’s virtually no difference between the Pixel 8a and 7a’s camera performance during the day. The two devices deliver identical photo quality with their dual cameras and in 2x zoom mode. We struggled to find a meaningful difference.

Pixel 8a: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Pixel 7a: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

In low light, however, we saw a difference in the ultrawide samples, with the Pixel 7a delivering stills that are less noisy, cleaner, sharper, and have a bit more contrast.

The same goes for the 2x zoom crop, where the Pixel 7a has the upper hand. The 7a’s 2x zoom photos are more detailed and a bit sharper too. Photos taken in the default 1x Photo mode are largely identical.

Pixel 8a: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Pixel 7a: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Video quality

There’s also not much difference in the video recording capabilities. The main and ultra-wide cameras on both devices record near-identical 4K video, but we did notice a slightly warmer color temperature on the 8a and better shadow development. The latter could be due to the difference in recording times, though.

Pixel 8a: 0.6x • 1x

Pixel 7a: 0.6x • 1x

Pronunciation

With a price difference of just $100, it’s probably safe to say the Pixel 8a is worth the extra money. The screen upgrade is bigger than you might initially think, and the phone has better-sounding speakers, too. The chipset is faster and a bit more efficient, judging by the battery life. And you get Google’s promise of 7 years of OS updates, compared to the 2 years left on the 7a.

On the other hand, the older Pixel offers similar battery life, charging, and camera experience, so if you value one of those more, you can save a few bucks and buy the cheaper Pixel 7a.