Samsung Galaxy A51 vs Google Pixel 9a
Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.5-inch Samsung Galaxy A51 (with Exynos 9 Octa 9611) that was released on December 12, 2019, against the Google Pixel 9a, which is powered by Google Tensor G4 and came out 5 years and 4 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
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy A51
- Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 512GB
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
- Weighs 14 grams less
- Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 9a
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- 3.7x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1321K versus 352K)
- Delivers 203% higher peak brightness (1927 against 635 nits)
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Comes with 1100 mAh larger battery capacity: 5100 vs 4000 mAh
- Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
- Shows 13% longer battery life (20:15 vs 17:53 hours)
- Handles wireless charging up to 7.5W
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- Optical image stabilization
- More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 13
- More energy-efficient CPU – Tensor G4
- The phone is 5 years and 4 months newer
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 | Super AMOLED | POLED |
| Size | 6.5 inches | 6.3 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels | 1080 x 2424 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 405 ppi | 422 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | Yes (60-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 400 nits | 2700 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | - | 1800 nits |
| HDR support | No | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 87.5% | 84.5% |
| Display features | - Always-On Display | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 98.8% | 98.2% |
| PWM | 242 Hz | 240 Hz |
| Response time | 25 ms | 1 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 158.5 mm (6.24 inches) | 154.7 mm (6.09 inches) |
| Width | 73.6 mm (2.9 inches) | 73.3 mm (2.89 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 172 g (6.07 oz) | 186 g (6.56 oz) |
| Waterproof | No | IP68 |
| Advanced cooling | - | Vapor chamber |
| Rear material | Plastic | Plastic |
| Frame material | Plastic | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black | White, Black, Red, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
| Repairability | - | Good (3.53/5) |
| Drop resistance | - | Excellent (A) · 270 drops |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 9611 | Google Tensor G4 |
| Max clock | 2300 MHz | 3100 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (4 + 4) | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 1.7 GHz: Cortex-A53 - 4 cores at 2.3 GHz: Cortex-A73 |
- 4 cores at 1.92 GHz: Cortex-A520 - 3 cores at 2.6 GHz: Cortex-A720 - 1 core at 3.1 GHz: Cortex-X4 |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | Samsung |
| Lithography process | 10 nanometers | 4 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Yes |
| Graphics | Mali-G72 MP3 | Mali-G715 MP7 |
| GPU shading units | 36 | 896 |
| GPU clock | 850 MHz | 940 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~61.2 GFLOPS | ~1684.4 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 745 | 7784 |
| Single-core score | 372 | 1677 |
| Multi-core score | 1204 | 4067 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 135389 | 445318 |
| GPU | 30103 | 410687 |
| Memory | 90583 | 175537 |
| UX | 96624 | 289527 |
| Total score | 352699 | 1321069 |
| Samples | [10 tests] | [7 tests] |
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
Samsung Galaxy A51
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-08-30 (Aginves) | AnTuTu 11 | 357049 |
| 📘 2026-08-28 (ROBIZ) | AnTuTu 11 | 331364 |
| 📘 2026-07-15 (Somya Lohiya) | AnTuTu 11 | 298360 |
| 📘 2026-06-20 (14burgos) | AnTuTu 11 | 393276 |
| 📘 2026-06-15 (Robiz) | AnTuTu 11 | 302904 |
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 |
Memory
| RAM size | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR5X |
| Memory clock | 1866 MHz | 4200 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 4 |
| Storage size | 64 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 2.0 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | MicroSD | No |
| Memory card max size | Up to 512 GB | - |
Software
| Operating system | Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) | Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 17) |
| ROM | One UI 5.1 | Stock Android |
| OS size | 23 GB | 14 GB |
| OS updates | 2 years | 7 years |
| Security updates | 4 years | 7 years |
Battery
| Capacity | 4000 mAh | 5100 mAh |
| Max charge power | 15 W | 23 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Bypass charging | - | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (40% in 35 min) | Yes (47% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 1:50 hr | 1:41 hr |
| Battery cycles | - | 1000 cycles |
| Web browsing | 07:15 hr | 08:20 hr |
| Watching video | 11:25 hr | 12:40 hr |
| Gaming | 04:49 hr | 06:06 hr |
| Standby | 81 hr | 91 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 48 megapixels | 48 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8000 x 6000 | 8000 x 6000 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Digital | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 120° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Ultrawide: 12 MP 3) Macro: 5 MP 4) Depth: 5 MP |
1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Ultrawide: 13 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 48 MP | 48 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/1.7 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 25 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX582 | Samsung GN8 |
| Sensor size | 1/2" (≈ 0.5 inch) | 1/2" (≈ 0.5 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | 0.8 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Digital | Optical |
| Image resolution | 12 MP | 13 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | 16 mm |
| Sensor | - | Sony IMX712 |
| Sensor size | - | 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Image resolution | 5 MP | - |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | - |
| Focal length | 40 mm | - |
| 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 |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 32 megapixels | 13 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 6560 x 4928 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 20 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KGD1 | CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/2.8" (≈ 0.36 inch) | 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | 1.12 micron |
| Autofocus | No | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 b/g/n/ac) | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - 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 | 5.3 |
| Bluetooth features | PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 2 | 3.2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | - | Yes |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | No | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 12 | - |
| 5G support | No | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Mono | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | Yes | No |
| FM radio | Yes | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | No |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Mid-range | Mid-range |
| Announced | December 2019 | March 2025 |
| Release date | December 2019 | April 2025 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $399 | $499 |
| Successor | - Samsung Galaxy A57 5G | - Google Pixel 10a |
| SAR (head) | 0.596 W/kg | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1.45 W/kg | 1.39 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- 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