Google Pixel 9a vs Apple iPhone 8
67
out of 100
VS
40
out of 100
Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.3-inch Google Pixel 9a (with Google Tensor G4) that was released on March 19, 2025, against the Apple iPhone 8, which is powered by Apple A11 Bionic and came out 7 years and 8 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
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 9a
- Comes with 3279 mAh larger battery capacity: 5100 vs 1821 mAh
- Has 4x more RAM: 8GB versus 2GB
- Delivers 203% higher peak brightness (1927 against 636 nits)
- 2.5x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1321K versus 520K)
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Has a 1.6 inches larger screen size
- Thinner bezels – 19.2% more screen real estate
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Modern USB Type-C port
- Shows 24% longer battery life (20:15 vs 16:16 hours)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- More energy-efficient CPU – Tensor G4
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 8
- Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
- Weighs 38 grams less
- Better grip in hands – the body is 6 mm narrower
Review
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
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | POLED | IPS LCD |
| Size | 6.3 inches | 4.7 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2424 pixels | 750 x 1334 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 16:9 |
| PPI | 422 ppi | 326 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (60-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 2700 nits | 625 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1800 nits | - |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | No |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 84.5% | 65.3% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- |
| RGB color space | 98.2% | 99.9% |
| PWM | 240 Hz | Not detected |
| Response time | 1 ms | 22 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | 1373:1 |
Screen space comparison
Pixel 9a
6.3″ (20:9 ratio) = 14.9 in2
iPhone 8
4.7″ (16:9 ratio) = 9.4 in2
~57% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 154.7 mm (6.09 inches) | 138.4 mm (5.45 inches) |
| Width | 73.3 mm (2.89 inches) | 67.3 mm (2.65 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) | 7.3 mm (0.29 inches) |
| Weight | 186 g (6.56 oz) | 148 g (5.22 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | IP67 |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | - |
| Rear material | Plastic | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Red, Purple | Silver, Gold, Gray |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-button |
| Repairability | Good (3.53/5) | - |
| Drop resistance | Excellent (A) · 270 drops | - |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Google Tensor G4 | Apple A11 Bionic |
| Max clock | 3100 MHz | 2100 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 6 (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 1.42 GHz: Mistral - 2 cores at 2.39 GHz: Monsoon |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 10 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Apple Neural Engine |
| Graphics | Mali-G715 MP7 | Apple GPU |
| GPU shading units | 896 | 192 |
| GPU clock | 940 MHz | 1066 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1684.4 GFLOPS | ~409.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 7784 | 5630 |
| Single-core score | 1677 | 1093 |
| Multi-core score | 4067 | 1828 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 445318 | 249127 |
| GPU | 410687 | - |
| Memory | 175537 | 102335 |
| UX | 289527 | 169105 |
| Total score | 1321069 | 520567 |
| Samples | [7 tests] | Less than 3 |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 81% | - |
| Graphics test | 8 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 1060 | - |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 10570 | - |
| Video editing | 7547 | - |
| Photo editing | 21264 | - |
| Data manipulation | 12988 | - |
| Writing score | 16308 | - |
Recent User Tests
Google Pixel 9a
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-08-21 (Leif) | AnTuTu 11 | 1590049 |
| 📘 2026-05-13 (kiriguap) | AnTuTu 11 | 1182042 |
| 📘 2026-03-09 (d1ldo) | AnTuTu 11 | 943849 |
| 📘 2026-01-03 (Joy) | AnTuTu 11 | 1487240 |
| 📘 2025-11-11 (VLAD) | AnTuTu 11 | 1507185 |
Apple iPhone 8
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-05-13 (TestGame) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 5630 |
| 📘 2026-05-13 (TestGame) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1093 / 1828 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR4 |
| Memory clock | 4200 MHz | - |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 64 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 17) | iOS 11 (Can be upgraded to iOS 16.5) |
| ROM | Stock Android | - |
| OS size | 14 GB | 6 GB |
| OS updates | 7 years | - |
| Security updates | 7 years | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 5100 mAh | 1821 mAh |
| Max charge power | 23 W | 15 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (7.5 W) | Yes, Qi (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Bypass charging | No | - |
| Fast charging | Yes (47% in 30 min) | Yes (50% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:41 hr | 1:15 hr |
| Battery cycles | 1000 cycles | - |
| Web browsing | 08:20 hr | 06:14 hr |
| Watching video | 12:40 hr | 09:59 hr |
| Gaming | 06:06 hr | 03:40 hr |
| Standby | 91 hr | 81 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 48 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8000 x 6000 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | Dual LED | Quad 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° | - |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Ultrawide: 13 MP |
1) Standard: 12 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 48 MP | 12 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.7 | f/1.8 |
| Focal length | 25 mm | 28 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung GN8 | Apple iSight Camera |
| Sensor size | 1/2" (≈ 0.5 inch) | 1/3" (≈ 0.33 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 13 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | - |
| Focal length | 16 mm | - |
| Sensor | Sony IMX712 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | - |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 145 | - |
| Zoom | 99 | - |
| Samples | Photo samples of Google Pixel 9a from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 8 from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 13 megapixels | 7 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 3088 x 2320 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 20 mm | 32 mm |
| Sensor | CMOS | BSI CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch) | - |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1 micron |
| Autofocus | No | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Digital | 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 5 (802.11 b/g/n/ac) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi Hotspot |
| Bluetooth version | 5.3 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | No |
| USB version | 3.2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode |
| DisplayPort | Yes | - |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | Yes | No |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | - | 16 |
| 5G support | Yes | No |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | No | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Mid-range | Flagship |
| Announced | March 2025 | September 2017 |
| Release date | April 2025 | September 2017 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $499 | $699 |
| Successor | - Google Pixel 10a | - |
| SAR (head) | 0.99 W/kg | 1.35 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.39 W/kg | 1.36 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | 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 9a is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: < 1