Google Pixel 6a vs Apple iPhone 16e

56 out of 100
Google Pixel 6a
VS
74 out of 100
Apple iPhone 16e

Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.1-inch Google Pixel 6a (with Google Tensor) that was released on May 11, 2022, against the Apple iPhone 16e, which is powered by Apple A18 and came out 2 years and 10 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory 6 / 128 GB

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 6a
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 16e
  • 59% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1612K versus 1015K)
  • Shows 29% longer battery life (26:44 vs 20:44 hours)
  • Handles wireless charging up to 7.5W
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • The phone is 2 years and 10 months newer
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K

Review

Evaluation of Google Pixel 6a and Apple iPhone 16e crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
DeviceFacts Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 79% Yes
Yes, we think most users will notice the upgrade.
Updating from Google Pixel 6a to Apple iPhone 16e makes sense and should feel noticeably better in daily use.
Main improvements: performance, gaming, and battery life.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
vs

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.1 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1170 x 2532 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19.5:9
PPI 429 ppi 457 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 500 nits 800 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1100 nits 1200 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, Dolby Vision
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Ceramic Shield
Screen-to-body ratio 82.2% 87.1%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
Display tests
RGB color space 96.9% 99.9%
PWM 240 Hz 60 Hz
Response time 3 ms 10 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Pixel 6a +5%
875 nits
836 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 152.2 mm (5.99 inches) 146.7 mm (5.78 inches)
Width 71.8 mm (2.83 inches) 71.5 mm (2.81 inches)
Thickness 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) 7.8 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 178 g (6.28 oz) 167 g (5.89 oz)
Waterproof IP67 IP68
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Green White, Black
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Repairability - Average (2.79/5)
Drop resistance - Good (C) · 90 drops
Screen-to-body ratio
82.2%
87.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Google Pixel 6a and Apple iPhone 16e
SoC
Chipset Google Tensor Apple A18
Max clock 2800 MHz 4040 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 2 + 4) 6 (2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex A55
- 2 cores at 2.25 GHz: Cortex A76
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-X1
- 4 cores at 2.42 GHz: Sawtooth
- 2 cores at 4.05 GHz: Everest
L3 cache 4 MB -
Manufacturing Samsung TSMC
Lithography process 5 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Tensor Processing Unit Neural Engine
GPU
Graphics Mali-G78 MP20 4 core Apple GPU
GPU shading units 640 640
GPU clock 850 MHz 1490 MHz
FLOPS ~1085.4 GFLOPS ~1907 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Google Pixel 6a and Apple iPhone 16e
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
1487
iPhone 16e +121%
3281
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
3664
iPhone 16e +119%
8035
Compute Score (GPU)
9543
iPhone 16e +152%
24041
Compute Score (GPU) 9543 24041
Single-core score 1487 3281
Multi-core score 3664 8035
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1015493
iPhone 16e +59%
1612788
CPU 425227 485100
GPU 126878 445832
Memory 171601 185536
UX 291787 496320
Total score 1015493 1612788
Samples [20 tests] [5 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
n/a
1226
Stability - 82%
Graphics test - 9 FPS
Graphics score - 1226
3DMark Solar Bay
n/a
5507
Graphics test - 21 FPS
Section 1 - 26 FPS
Section 2 - 21 FPS
Section 3 - 15 FPS
Graphics score - 5507
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
1854
Stability 57% -
Graphics test 11 FPS -
Graphics score 1854 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
10455
Web score 7105 -
Video editing 5884 -
Photo editing 19072 -
Data manipulation 10310 -
Writing score 15550 -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Google Pixel 6a
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-26 -> Islom_1180AnTuTu 121235821
📘 2026-08-19 (duwi)AnTuTu 11774697
📘 2026-07-29 (Mimo)AnTuTu 111117985
📘 2026-07-28 (Hypermini)AnTuTu 111015541
📘 2026-07-27 (Ash)AnTuTu 11978066
Apple iPhone 16e
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-03-11 (Matviy)AnTuTu 111600106
📘 2026-02-27 (iPhone user)AnTuTu 111591246
📘 2026-02-10 (Virtuose)AnTuTu 111721718
📘 2026-01-14 (Glib)AnTuTu 111656396
📘 2026-01-13 (киря)AnTuTu 111612788

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5X
Memory clock 3200 MHz -
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 NVMe
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 17) iOS 18.3 (Can be upgraded to iOS 27)
ROM Stock Android -
OS size 14.3 GB 24 GB
OS updates 5 years 7 years
Security updates 5 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 4410 mAh 4005 mAh
Max charge power 18 W 25 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging No No
Bypass charging - No
Fast charging Yes (42% in 30 min) Yes (57% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:51 hr 1:50 hr
Battery cycles - 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:25 hr 11:59 hr
Watching video 14:20 hr 15:01 hr
Gaming 05:34 hr 05:04 hr
Standby 89 hr 127 hr
General battery life
20:44 hr
iPhone 16e +29%
26:44 hr

Main camera

Matrix 12.2 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 8064 x 6048
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 114° -
Lenses 1) Standard: 12.2 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 48 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 12.2 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.7 f/1.6
Focal length 27 mm 26 mm
Sensor Sony IMX363 Sony IMX972
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 0.7 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP -
Aperture f/2.2 -
Focal length 17 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX386 -
Sensor size 1/2.9" (≈ 0.34 inch) -
Pixel size 1.12 micron -
Stabilization Digital -

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 65 -
Preview 67 -
Zoom 74 -
Samples Photo samples of Google Pixel 6a from DxOMark -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 8 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 3840 x 2160 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/2.0 f/1.9
Focal length 24 mm 23 mm
Sensor Sony IMX355 Sony IMX714
Sensor size 1/2.8" (≈ 0.36 inch) 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1 micron
Autofocus No Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No Yes

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.2 5.3
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.1 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort - No
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode - Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 20 -
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos No Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
87.4 dB
88.4 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Mid-range
Announced May 2022 February 2025
Release date June 2022 February 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $449 $599
Successor - Google Pixel 10a -
SAR (head) 0.99 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.31 W/kg -
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Not included Not included
Further details
Notes on iPhone 16e:
    - The smartphone doesn’t have a cinematic mode like the higher-end models in the series.
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Apple iPhone 16e is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
6 (66.7%)
3 (33.3%)
Total votes: 9

User opinions

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