Google has officially announced that its Pixel 9a mid-range smartphone will arrive next week, though it seemingly won’t be feature-complete from an AI standpoint.
The Pixel 9a was delayed at the last minute in mid-March due to an unspecified component issue.
It appears Google has now gotten on top of whatever technical flaw was holding its new affordable phone back.
Pixel 9a release date
Google has updated its initial Pixel 9a announcement post with specific release date information.
The phone will “be available on-shelf” in the US, Canada and the UK on 10 April. That’s next Thursday.
It’ll then be arriving in much of the rest of Europe on 14 April, and in Australia, India, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia on 16 April.
Google’s swift turn-around here is good to see – we were getting a little worried that we might not see the phone until later in April. However, it does mean that retailers and network operators have been caught somewhat flatfooted.
We’ve seen one or two low-key network operator pre-order deals coming through our inboxes, but not the flood that you might expect from such a major release.
What about the Pixel 9a component issue?
As for the aforementioned component issue, Google has issued a statement dismissing some of the more doom-laden speculation concerning its origins. The statement in full reads:
“Rumors and speculation regarding this delay are false. A passive component in Pixel 9a didn’t meet our rigorous quality standards for device longevity and rather than ship it, we made the difficult decision to delay the on shelf and take corrective action on the small number of affected units.”
‘Passive components’ are defined as those that receive power but neither generate nor control it. Think of those components that manage the flow of energy in a smartphone, such as resistors or capacitors.
In other words, Google is saying here that no major components are implicated in the Pixel 9a’s component issues. This, alongside the corrective measures and the fact that only a small number of Pixel 9a devices were apparently affected should hopefully reassure potential customers.
Pixel 9a to feature limited AI
The Pixel 9a has been one of the more heavily leaked phones, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t more to learn about it.
The latest snippet of information relates to the implications of the Pixel 9a’s limited 8GB RAM allotment. The rest of the Google Pixel 9 series runs on 12GB of RAM, and Google has confirmed to Ars Technica that this will have an adverse impact on the AI features that the Pixel 9a is able to run.
You’ll still be able to talk to Gemini through the phone, but the on-device Gemini Nano AI model has apparently been downgraded. It’s running Gemini Nano 1.0 XXS – the same model that was released as a developer preview for the Pixel 8 last year – rather than Gemini Nano 1.0 XS.
Gemini Nano 1.0 XXS won’t run in the background on the Pixel 9a, which means it will almost certainly feel less snappy. It’s also text-only.
There are a couple of genuinely useful AI features that simple won’t be present on the Pixel 9a as a result. These include the Pixel Screenshots app and Call Notes phone conversation summaries.
While it hasn’t been confirmed by Google, it would stand to reason that the previously announced scam detection feature (which relies on audio processing) will also be omitted. Recorder summaries will be included, however, because the AI works on text transcriptions rather than direct audio files.
Naturally, we’ll be putting the Pixel 9a through vigorous testing ahead of our review to see what it can and can’t do. Stay tuned.
