Home > Smartphone comparison > Galaxy S10 vs Pixel 9a – which one to choose?

Samsung Galaxy S10 vs Google Pixel 9a

54 out of 100
Samsung Galaxy S10
VS
67 out of 100
Google Pixel 9a
Samsung Galaxy S10
Google Pixel 9a

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.1-inch Samsung Galaxy S10 (with Exynos 9 Octa 9820) that was released on February 20, 2019, against the Google Pixel 9a, which is powered by Google Tensor G4 and came out 6 years and 2 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
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S10
  • The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
  • 31% higher pixel density (551 vs 422 PPI)
  • Shows 13% longer battery life (22:50 vs 20:15 hours)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 512GB
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Reverse charging feature
  • Supports Dolby Atmos sound technology
  • Weighs 29 grams less
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 9a
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Delivers 136% higher peak brightness (1927 against 817 nits)
  • Comes with 1700 mAh larger battery capacity: 5100 vs 3400 mAh
  • 77% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1321K versus 747K)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 12
  • The phone is 6 years and 2 months newer
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Tensor G4
  • Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S10 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
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate DeviceFacts Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 73% Yes
Yes, we think most users will notice the upgrade.
Updating from Samsung Galaxy S10 to Google Pixel 9a makes sense and should feel noticeably better in daily use.
Main improvements: display, gaming, and performance.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Galaxy S10
vs
Pixel 9a

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED POLED
Size 6.1 inches 6.3 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3040 pixels 1080 x 2424 pixels
Aspect ratio 19:9 20:9
PPI 551 ppi 422 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No Yes (60-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1215 nits 2700 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1800 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 6 Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Screen-to-body ratio 88% 84.5%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 98.1% 98.2%
PWM 240 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 4.8 ms 1 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Galaxy S10
817 nits
Pixel 9a +136%
1927 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 149.9 mm (5.9 inches) 154.7 mm (6.09 inches)
Width 70.4 mm (2.77 inches) 73.3 mm (2.89 inches)
Thickness 7.8 mm (0.31 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 157 g (5.54 oz) 186 g (6.56 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling - Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Blue, Green 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
Galaxy S10 +4%
88%
Pixel 9a
84.5%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S10 and Google Pixel 9a
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 9820 Google Tensor G4
Max clock 2730 MHz 3100 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 2 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.95 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2.31 GHz: Cortex-A75
- 2 cores at 2.73 GHz: Mongoose M4		 - 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 8 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes Yes
GPU
Graphics Mali G76 MP12 Mali-G715 MP7
GPU shading units 288 896
GPU clock 702 MHz 940 MHz
FLOPS ~404.4 GFLOPS ~1684.4 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S10 and Google Pixel 9a
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Galaxy S10
986
Pixel 9a +70%
1677
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Galaxy S10
2961
Pixel 9a +37%
4067
Compute Score (GPU)
Galaxy S10
4837
Pixel 9a +61%
7784
Compute Score (GPU) 4837 7784
Single-core score 986 1677
Multi-core score 2961 4067
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Galaxy S10
747257
Pixel 9a +77%
1321069
CPU 303198 445318
GPU 133774 410687
Memory 148749 175537
UX 161536 289527
Total score 747257 1321069
Samples [16 tests] [7 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Galaxy S10
367
Pixel 9a +189%
1060
Stability 81% 81%
Graphics test 3 FPS 8 FPS
Graphics score 367 1060
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Stability 82% -
Graphics test 5 FPS -
Graphics score 949 -
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Galaxy S10
9014
Pixel 9a +43%
12890
Web score 7433 10570
Video editing 5772 7547
Photo editing 18351 21264
Data manipulation 7663 12988
Writing score 10349 16308
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S10
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-15 (Sv1at)AnTuTu 12929674
📘 2026-09-27 (Arifz)AnTuTu 12769471
📘 2026-09-26 (Lurky)AnTuTu 12932812
📘 2026-09-26 (Rip)AnTuTu 12625310
📘 2026-09-06 (Nythoxx)AnTuTu 11777426
Add View all (30)
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
Add View all (7)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 2133 MHz 4200 MHz
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 2.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card MicroSD No
Memory card max size Up to 512 GB -

Software

Operating system Android 9.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 12) Android 15 (Can be upgraded to Android 17)
ROM One UI 4.0 Stock Android
OS size 9.5 GB 14 GB
OS updates 2 years 7 years
Security updates 4 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 3400 mAh 5100 mAh
Max charge power 15 W 23 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes, Qi/PMA (9 W) Yes (7.5 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Bypass charging - No
Fast charging Yes, Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge (50% in 30 min) Yes (47% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:35 hr 1:41 hr
Battery cycles - 1000 cycles
Battery life tests
Web browsing 13:03 hr 08:20 hr
Watching video 14:48 hr 12:40 hr
Gaming 05:16 hr 06:06 hr
Standby 73 hr 91 hr
General battery life
Galaxy S10 +13%
22:50 hr
Pixel 9a
20:15 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 48 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 8000 x 6000
Zoom Optical, 2x 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 240FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 960 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 123° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
2) Telephoto: 12 MP
3) Ultrawide: 16 MP
1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Ultrawide: 13 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 48 MP
Aperture f/1.5 - 2.4 f/1.7
Focal length 26 mm 25 mm
Sensor Samsung SAK2L4 Samsung GN8
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/2" (≈ 0.5 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 0.8 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 12 MP -
Aperture f/1.5 -
Focal length 52 mm -
Sensor Samsung S5K3M3 -
Sensor size 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) -
Pixel size 1 micron -
Stabilization Optical -
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 16 MP 13 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 12 mm 16 mm
Sensor - Sony IMX712
Sensor size 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch) 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size - 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Galaxy S10
124
Pixel 9a +16%
144
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Galaxy S10
116
Pixel 9a +10%
128
Bokeh - 145
Zoom - 99
Samples - Photo samples of Google Pixel 9a from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 10 megapixels 13 megapixels
Image resolution 4320 x 2432 4032 x 3024
Aperture f/1.9 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 20 mm
Sensor Samsung S5K3J1 CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.65" (≈ 0.38 inch) 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ax) Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot		 - 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, LE, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.1 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 Yes No
LTE Cat* 20 -
5G support No Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack Yes No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes No
Speakers test
Max loudness
Galaxy S10
88 dB
Pixel 9a
88.1 dB

Other

Category Flagship Mid-range
Announced February 2019 March 2025
Release date March 2019 April 2025
Launch price (MSRP) $900 $499
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S25 FE - Google Pixel 10a
SAR (head) 0.48 W/kg 0.99 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.59 W/kg 1.39 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- 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

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Total votes: 1

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