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Google announces Pixel 3a and 3a XL w/ familiar design, lower price, Snapdragon 670, more

Google just announced the Google Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL, the latest addition to its smartphone lineup and the first Pixels to come at prices that could be considered less than high-end. The Pixel 3a shares great similarities with the Google Pixel 3 line that proceeded it. These two phones appeal to a different subset of the market, though, with lesser specs, cheaper materials, and a lower price…

As was the case with the Pixel 3, the Pixel 3a line comes in two sizes — a standard model, and a larger XL variant. The smaller 3a has a 5.6-inch display, and the larger has a 6-inch screen. Interestingly, unlike the Pixel 3 XL, Google decided against the large screen cut out “notch” at the top of the Pixel 3a XL’s front. Besides this, you might not be able to tell them apart from Pixel 3 at first glance.

The smaller device’s 5.6-inch display has a resolution of 2220×1080 at 441dpi, and it’s an OLED panel, which means it’s a similar-quality display to the standard Pixel 3. The larger device has a 6-inch display at a similar resolution.

Another thing that’s similar are the camera sensors. There’s only one on the front (as opposed to Pixel 3’s two), but the front and back shooters it does have are nearly identical to that of the Pixel 3. This should mean the new phones will be able shoot photos of identical quality to its flagship brethren, and we’ll be testing that extensively this week.

Some other specs: 64GB of storage, Snapdragon 670 system-on a chip with an Adreno 615 GPU, 4GB of RAM, a 3,000mAh battery on the smaller phone, the Titan M security chip, eSIM, and support for 18W fast charging via USB-C. Unfortunately, Google opted not to include wireless charging.

In terms of pricing and availability, the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL will be available starting today from the Google Store and at Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint. The smaller Pixel 3a will start at exactly half the retail price of the standard Pixel 3 — $399 — while the larger Pixel 3a XL will cost $479.

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Avatar for Stephen Hall Stephen Hall

Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. If you want to get in touch, follow me on Twitter. Or, email at stephen (at) 9to5mac (dot) com, or an encrypted email at hallstephenj (at) protonmail (dot) com.