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Google Pixel 8a vs Pixel 6a

66 out of 100
Google Pixel 8a
VS
56 out of 100
Google Pixel 6a
Google Pixel 8a
Google Pixel 6a

Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.1-inch Google Pixel 8a (with Google Tensor G3) that was released on May 7, 2024, against the Google Pixel 6a, which is powered by Google Tensor and came out 2 years before. 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
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments (2)

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 8a
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Delivers 72% higher peak brightness (1506 against 875 nits)
  • 41% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1433K versus 1015K)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Handles wireless charging up to 7.5W
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • The phone is 2 years newer
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+1)
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K

Review

Evaluation of Google Pixel 8a and Pixel 6a 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
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 55% Yes
Maybe, but mainly if you specifically want better display.
This is a situational upgrade. It makes the most sense if better display matters to you.
Main improvements: display, camera, and gaming.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Pixel 8a
vs
Pixel 6a

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.1 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 430 ppi 429 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 2000 nits 500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1400 nits 1100 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10 Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Screen-to-body ratio 81.3% 82.2%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.1% 96.9%
PWM 120 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 2 ms 3 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Pixel 8a +72%
1506 nits
Pixel 6a
875 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 152.1 mm (5.99 inches) 152.2 mm (5.99 inches)
Width 72.7 mm (2.86 inches) 71.8 mm (2.83 inches)
Thickness 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 188 g (6.63 oz) 178 g (6.28 oz)
Waterproof IP67 IP67
Rear material Plastic Plastic
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Blue, Green White, Black, Green
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability Good (3.52/5) -
Drop resistance Excellent (A) · 270 drops -
Screen-to-body ratio
Pixel 8a
81.3%
Pixel 6a +1%
82.2%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Google Pixel 8a and Google Pixel 6a
SoC
Chipset Google Tensor G3 Google Tensor
Max clock 3000 MHz 2800 MHz
CPU cores 9 (1 + 4 + 4) 8 (2 + 2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.7 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 4 cores at 2.37 GHz: Cortex-A715
- 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X3		 - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex A55
- 2 cores at 2.25 GHz: Cortex A76
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-X1
L3 cache - 4 MB
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 4 nanometers 5 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes Tensor Processing Unit
GPU
Graphics Immortalis-G715s MC10 Mali-G78 MP20
GPU shading units 896 640
GPU clock 890 MHz 850 MHz
FLOPS ~1594.8 GFLOPS ~1085.4 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Google Pixel 8a and Google Pixel 6a
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Pixel 8a
1491
Pixel 6a
1487
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Pixel 8a
3584
Pixel 6a +2%
3664
Compute Score (GPU)
Pixel 8a
8490
Pixel 6a +12%
9543
Compute Score (GPU) 8490 9543
Single-core score 1491 1487
Multi-core score 3584 3664
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Pixel 8a +41%
1433693
Pixel 6a
1015493
CPU 546093 425227
GPU 391230 126878
Memory 195569 171601
UX 300801 291787
Total score 1433693 1015493
Samples [6 tests] [20 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Pixel 8a
990
Pixel 6a
n/a
Stability 67% -
Graphics test 7 FPS -
Graphics score 990 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Pixel 8a
n/a
Pixel 6a
1854
Stability - 57%
Graphics test - 11 FPS
Graphics score - 1854
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Pixel 8a
n/a
Pixel 6a
10455
Web score - 7105
Video editing - 5884
Photo editing - 19072
Data manipulation - 10310
Writing score - 15550
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Google Pixel 8a
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-12-28 (adismsha)AnTuTu 111471866
📘 2025-12-22 -> jpara_diseGeekbench 6 GPU8490
📘 2025-12-22 -> jpara_diseGeekbench 6 CPU1491 / 3584
📘 2025-12-22 -> jpara_diseAnTuTu 111397797
📘 2025-12-17 (jpara_dise)AnTuTu 111397797
Add View all (9)
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
Add View all (45)

Memory

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

Software

Operating system Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 17) Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 17)
ROM Stock Android Stock Android
OS size 18.4 GB 14.3 GB
OS updates 7 years 5 years
Security updates 7 years 5 years

Battery

Capacity 4492 mAh 4410 mAh
Max charge power 18 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (7.5 W) No
Reverse charging No No
Fast charging Yes (33% in 30 min) Yes (42% in 30 min)
Full charging time 2:09 hr 1:51 hr
Battery cycles 1000 cycles -
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:15 hr 08:25 hr
Watching video 13:00 hr 14:20 hr
Gaming 04:54 hr 05:34 hr
Standby 86 hr 89 hr
General battery life
Pixel 8a
19:43 hr
Pixel 6a +5%
20:44 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 64 megapixels 12.2 megapixels
Image resolution 9000 x 7000 4032 x 3024
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 120° 114°
Lenses 1) Standard: 64 MP
2) Ultrawide: 13 MP
1) Standard: 12.2 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 64 MP 12.2 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/1.7
Focal length 26 mm 27 mm
Sensor Sony IMX787 Sony IMX363
Sensor size 1/1.73" (≈ 0.58 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 1.4 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 13 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length - 17 mm
Sensor Sony IMX712 Sony IMX386
Sensor size 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) 1/2.9" (≈ 0.34 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Pixel 8a +6%
141
Pixel 6a
133
Video quality
Pixel 8a +2%
128
Pixel 6a
126
Generic main camera score
Pixel 8a +11%
136
Pixel 6a
122
Bokeh 60 65
Preview 71 67
Zoom 126 74
Samples Photo samples of Google Pixel 8a from DxOMark Photo samples of Google Pixel 6a from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 13 megapixels 8 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 3840 x 2160
Aperture - f/2.0
Focal length - 24 mm
Sensor - Sony IMX355
Sensor size - 1/2.8" (≈ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size - 1.12 micron
Autofocus - No
Stabilization - Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6E (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 5.3 5.2
Bluetooth features LE LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 20 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos No No
Speakers test
Max loudness
Pixel 8a +2%
89.3 dB
Pixel 6a
87.4 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Mid-range
Announced May 2024 May 2022
Release date May 2024 June 2022
Launch price (MSRP) $499 $449
Successor - Google Pixel 10a - 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
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Not included
*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 Google Pixel 8a is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
60 (46.5%)
69 (53.5%)
Total votes: 129

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User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
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Avatar
Tanhockpeng September 22, 2024 at 12:43 PM
I go for 6a, better camera 12.2 mp is enough.
0 Reply
Avatar
Syam June 2, 2024 at 03:17 PM
The Pixel 6a doesn't offer better value in comparison to the Pixel 6a. Issues to be resolved include: heating processor, fast charging, display, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, and bezels. It's not a value-for-money product.
0 Reply
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