Google Pixel 9 Pro vs Pixel 6a

74 out of 100
Google Pixel 9 Pro
VS
56 out of 100
Google Pixel 6a

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.3-inch Google Pixel 9 Pro (with Google Tensor G4) that was released on August 13, 2024, against the Google Pixel 6a, which is powered by Google Tensor and came out 2 years and 4 months 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

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 9 Pro
  • The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom
  • Delivers 165% higher peak brightness (2317 against 875 nits)
  • Has 2.7x more RAM: 16GB versus 6GB
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • 58% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1606K versus 1015K)
  • Shows 7% longer battery life (22:07 vs 20:44 hours)
  • Handles wireless charging up to 12W
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
  • 15% higher pixel density (495 vs 429 PPI)
  • The phone is 2 years and 4 months newer
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 6a
  • 17% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 1487 and 1268 points
  • Weighs 21 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Google Pixel 9 Pro 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
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 83% Yes
Yes, this is a clear and meaningful upgrade.
Updating from Google Pixel 6a to Google Pixel 9 Pro is a clear step forward, and the improvements should be easy to notice.
Main improvements: display, camera, and gaming.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
vs

Display

Type OLED OLED
Size 6.3 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1280 x 2856 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 495 ppi 429 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) No
Max rated brightness 3000 nits 500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 2000 nits 1100 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus 2 Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Screen-to-body ratio 87.1% 82.2%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.1% 96.9%
PWM 240 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 2 ms 3 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Pixel 9 Pro +165%
2317 nits
875 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 152.8 mm (6.02 inches) 152.2 mm (5.99 inches)
Width 72 mm (2.83 inches) 71.8 mm (2.83 inches)
Thickness 8.5 mm (0.33 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 199 g (7.02 oz) 178 g (6.28 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber -
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Gray, Pink White, Black, Green
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Repairability Good (3.39/5) -
Drop resistance Excellent (A) · 270 drops -
Screen-to-body ratio
87.1%
82.2%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Google Pixel 9 Pro and Google Pixel 6a
SoC
Chipset Google Tensor G4 Google Tensor
Max clock 3100 MHz 2800 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (2 + 2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.92 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 3 cores at 2.6 GHz: Cortex-A720
- 1 core at 3.1 GHz: Cortex-X4
- 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 Mali-G715 MP7 Mali-G78 MP20
GPU shading units 896 640
GPU clock 940 MHz 850 MHz
FLOPS ~1684.4 GFLOPS ~1085.4 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Google Pixel 9 Pro and Google Pixel 6a
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Pixel 6a +17%
1487
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
4471
3664
Compute Score (GPU)
10088
9543
Compute Score (GPU) 10088 9543
Single-core score 1268 1487
Multi-core score 4471 3664
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
1606238
1015493
CPU 593578 425227
GPU 419286 126878
Memory 209607 171601
UX 383767 291787
Total score 1606238 1015493
Samples [2 tests] [20 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 78% -
Graphics test 8 FPS -
Graphics score 1047 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability - 57%
Graphics test - 11 FPS
Graphics score - 1854
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
13308
10455
Web score 10518 7105
Video editing 7606 5884
Photo editing 20039 19072
Data manipulation 13898 10310
Writing score 17296 15550

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Google Pixel 9 Pro
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-06-09 (danyages)AnTuTu 111606238
📘 2026-03-05 (Sashka2005)AnTuTu 111499601
📘 2024-10-16 (notReal)Geekbench 6 CPU1268 / 4471
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

Memory

RAM
RAM size 16 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Memory clock - 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 28.8 GB 14.3 GB
OS updates 7 years 5 years
Security updates 7 years 5 years

Battery

Capacity 4700 mAh 4410 mAh
Max charge power 27 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (12 W) No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Bypass charging No -
Fast charging Yes (56% in 30 min) Yes (42% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:24 hr 1:51 hr
Battery cycles 1000 cycles -
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:12 hr 08:25 hr
Watching video 12:40 hr 14:20 hr
Gaming 06:23 hr 05:34 hr
Standby 96 hr 89 hr
General battery life
22:07 hr
20:44 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 12.2 megapixels
Image resolution 8160 x 6144 4032 x 3024
Zoom Optical, 5x Digital
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS 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 123° 114°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 48 MP
3) Ultrawide: 48 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 50 MP 12.2 MP
Aperture f/1.7 f/1.7
Focal length 25 mm 27 mm
Sensor Samsung GN1 Sony IMX363
Sensor size 1/1.31" (≈ 0.76 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.2 micron 1.4 micron
Autofocus Laser autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 48 MP -
Aperture f/2.8 -
Focal length 113 mm -
Sensor Samsung S5KGM5 -
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) -
Pixel size 0.7 micron -
Stabilization Optical -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 48 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.7 f/2.2
Focal length 12 mm 17 mm
Sensor Samsung S5KGM5 Sony IMX386
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/2.9" (≈ 0.34 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital 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 42 megapixels 8 megapixels
Image resolution 3648 x 2736 3840 x 2160
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.0
Focal length 18 mm 24 mm
Sensor Sony IMX858 Sony IMX355
Sensor size 1/2.51" (≈ 0.4 inch) 1/2.8" (≈ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) 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 GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
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 No
Speakers test
Max loudness
90.6 dB
87.4 dB

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced August 2024 May 2022
Release date September 2024 June 2022
Launch price (MSRP) $999 $449
Successor - Google Pixel 10 Pro - Google Pixel 10a
SAR (head) 0.99 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.37 W/kg 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 9 Pro is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
13 (72.2%)
5 (27.8%)
Total votes: 18

User opinions

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