Samsung Galaxy A51 vs Google Pixel 9a

38 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy A51
VS
67 out of 100
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.

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Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
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

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy A51 and Google Pixel 9a 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
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📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 98% Yes
Yes, this is a clear and meaningful upgrade.
Updating from Samsung Galaxy A51 to Google Pixel 9a is a clear step forward, and the improvements should be easy to notice.
Main improvements: performance, display, and camera.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
vs

Display

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
Display tests
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)
635 nits
Pixel 9a +203%
1927 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

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
87.5%
84.5%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy A51 and Google Pixel 9a
SoC
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
GPU
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

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy A51 and Google Pixel 9a
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Pixel 9a +351%
1677
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
1204
Pixel 9a +238%
4067
Compute Score (GPU)
Pixel 9a +945%
7784
Compute Score (GPU) 745 7784
Single-core score 372 1677
Multi-core score 1204 4067
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
352699
Pixel 9a +275%
1321069
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
1060
Stability - 81%
Graphics test - 8 FPS
Graphics score - 1060
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
12890
Web score - 10570
Video editing - 7547
Photo editing - 21264
Data manipulation - 12988
Writing score - 16308

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy A51
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-08-30 (Aginves)AnTuTu 11357049
📘 2026-08-28 (ROBIZ)AnTuTu 11331364
📘 2026-07-15 (Somya Lohiya)AnTuTu 11298360
📘 2026-06-20 (14burgos)AnTuTu 11393276
📘 2026-06-15 (Robiz)AnTuTu 11302904
Google Pixel 9a
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-08-21 (Leif)AnTuTu 111590049
📘 2026-05-13 (kiriguap)AnTuTu 111182042
📘 2026-03-09 (d1ldo)AnTuTu 11943849
📘 2026-01-03 (Joy)AnTuTu 111487240
📘 2025-11-11 (VLAD)AnTuTu 111507185

Memory

RAM
RAM size 4 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 1866 MHz 4200 MHz
Channels 2 4
Storage
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
Battery life tests
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
17:53 hr
Pixel 9a +13%
20:15 hr

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
Standard lens
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
Ultra-wide lens
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
Macro lens
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
Network
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
81.7 dB
Pixel 9a +8%
88.1 dB

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.

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