You know the drill by now—the Pixel a-series is the best phone line Google makes. A combination of good design, a great camera, the right specs, and a low price makes it our usual recommendation for prospective Android phone buyers on a budget. The Pixel 7a presents more of that winning formula, and a few key upgrades this year make it so good that the more expensive Pixel phone directly above it—the $600 Pixel 7—is now basically obsolete.

Since the phone has been fully unveiled today, let's go over the specs. First up, the price—it's $500, which is $50 more expensive than last year. That extra fifty bucks gets you some big upgrades over last year, though, like a 6.1-inch, 90 Hz, 2400×1080 OLED (the 6a has a 60 Hz display); 8GB of RAM (formerly 6GB); 7.5 W wireless charging (formerly no wireless charging); and a 64 MP main camera that's new to the Pixel line.

Other expected specs are here, too, like a Google Tensor G2 SoC—that's the same chip the more expensive models have—plus 128GB of storage, IP67 dust and water resistance, 18 W wired charging, and Wi-Fi 6e. There's a marginally smaller battery, which is officially 4385 mAh (it was formerly 4500 mAh).

Just like the Pixel 7, the Pixel 6a is getting a slightly wider rollout this year, with 17 regions listed on Google's spec sheet: the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and India. Congratulations to the new Nordic countries on that list, which are getting Google's mid-range phone for the first time. Google only has about 113 more countries to go to match the hardware operations of Samsung and Apple.

This is great and all, but the Pixel 6a is now $350

Normally, we would be ready to enshrine the Pixel 7a as the mid-range Android phone to buy, but Google is throwing us a bit of a curveball this year: The Pixel 7a is no longer at the bottom of the company's phone lineup. The old phone, the Pixel 6a, will continue to be sold, and it's getting a $100 price drop. The Pixel 6a will now cost $350. This is a Pixel 7a review, but it's hard not to be distracted by the Pixel 6a's super-hot new price tag. At just $350, the Pixel 6a is very attractive. Is a Pixel 7a worth $150 more?

While we're getting distracted, let's take a look at Google's entire phone lineup:

Raise your hand if you can come up with a justification for the $600 Pixel 7 versus the $500 Pixel 7a. Is 0.2 screen inches worth $100? In a press briefing during the lead-up to the 7a's release, Google was asked about cannibalizing Pixel 7 sales with the release of the Pixel 7a. Although Pixel 7a product manager Justin Savage pointed to the Pixel 7's glass back and "better" camera, he admitted that Google "really wanted to build the most competitive device that we possibly could."

So there you have it: The competition is everybody else, and Google isn't that concerned about killing the Pixel 7. That's probably the right move—the company doesn't have enough market share to worry about undercutting its own products.

Google must also not be concerned about undercutting the Pixel 7a with the Pixel 6a's price drop, as that $350 price tag makes the Pixel 6a the best deal on this table. Do you need a 90 Hz screen in a budget phone? Google's SoC hasn't really changed year over year. The Pixel 6a camera is still fine. Wireless charging isn't that big of a deal, especially since it requires spending more money on accessories.

The only downside is Google's surprisingly short and uncompetitive support window: the Pixel 6a is scheduled to stop getting major Android updates after July 2025. Normally, Google offers three years of major OS updates (for comparison, Samsung offers four), and the Pixel 6a is already a year old. That could be a good reason to opt for the Pixel 7a—it's 42 percent more expensive for 50 percent more update time. Still, Google offers five years of security updates, so you may be tempted to hang on to your Pixel 6a for a few more years.