Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple's iPhone 16e vs. Google's Pixel 9a

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,482
37,741


Google recently came out with the Pixel 9a, a mid-tier Android smartphone that rivals the iPhone 16e that Apple released earlier this year. We picked up a Pixel 9a to see how Google's lower-cost option compares to Apple's more affordable iPhone.


The Pixel 9a joins the flagship Pixel 9 and 9 Pro smartphones that Google released last year, much like Apple added the iPhone 16e to the iPhone 16 lineup. The Pixel 9a is priced starting at $499, so it's $100 cheaper than the $599 starting price of the iPhone 16e.

The iPhone 16e and the Pixel 9a don't look all that different, and both feature a minimal design with aluminum frames, a matte back, and a smaller camera setup than the flagship smartphones. The Pixel 9a has a plastic back instead of a glass back, so it's a little less premium but more durable.

While the iPhone 16e has a protruding single-lens rear camera, the Pixel 9a has an almost flush camera bump with two lenses instead of just one. There's a standard 48-megapixel wide-angle lens, and a 13-megapixel ultrawide lens, while the iPhone 16e is limited to a 48-megapixel wide lens. The Pixel 9a and the iPhone 16e both take solid images, and it's tough to tell the difference between them in most situations.

Google wins out when it comes to portrait mode images because of the better depth of field and the people limitation on the iPhone 16e, but Apple wins for video because the iPhone has some of the best video stabilization features available in a smartphone.

As for display, the iPhone 16e has thinner bezels and a higher resolution, but the Pixel 9a has 120Hz refresh rate support and an always-on display, features you won't get with the 16e. Android smartphone makers still can't match Face ID even after all this time, so the Pixel 9a also has a fingerprint sensor.

You're probably not going to run into performance issues with either smartphone, though the iPhone 16e may be better at high-performance games. The Pixel 9a unsurprisingly outperforms the iPhone 16e when it comes to AI, because Apple's AI features are just so far behind. Gemini is better than Siri and Pixel Studio beats Image Playground. Google does better at object removal in photos, and there are useful features for choosing the best image, adding people to a photo, and more.

Make sure to check out our video to see the AI features in action and to see our comparison photos.

Article Link: Apple's iPhone 16e vs. Google's Pixel 9a
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/04/16/iphone-16e-vs-pixel-9a/
  • Like
Reactions: Jumpthesnark, brgtul and klasma
Battle of the Letters

iPhone is the only choice for iOS

Pixel is the closest to near stock android but if you are not into that, other options are available.
 
  • Like
Reactions: addamas and GioGiusi
Interesting comparison but really it all comes down to iOS vs Android. If you're like me and prefer MacOS over Windows on a laptop then you may want to go iPhone. If not then you may prefer Android (or iOS). Each company will likely lead or trail the other in one feature or another but in the long run they all end up close to the same.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tbayrgs, SDJim, Rokkus76 and 1 other person
L92 said:
The OnePlus 13T/Mini will beat both of these phones by a mile — but it won't have iOS.
Click to expand...
For Android, I'd rather have OnePlus phones than any other brand. They seem to consider how people use their phones, unlike Google's Pixel team.
 
If I wasn’t already embedded in the Apple ecosystem I would probably go for the Pixel phone mainly for the Gemini AI features.
 
If you have an older Android phone, the Pixel 9a is a pretty good choice. But the relatively low charge rate of around 23-25 watts means charging the 5,100 mAh battery will take a while.
 
OS aside Pixel 9a is better bang for buck, yes the cpu isn't as good, but better camera and £100 less. If you don't have a mac or an ipad then I think the pixel is the better buy. but idealy if the pixel 9 is on special for £/$650 then that trumps em both
 
  • Like
Reactions: MartyMcfly88 and jamezr
overall two phones placed at very bad prices. Tech reviewers are pushing the hell out of pixels even though they have worse value per dollar than most other Android phones.

There are many other better phones in the mid-range section and i will list them here:

- Redmi Note 14 Pro+: cheaper by like 40%, has 512gb of storage, is better for gaming and multimedia thanks to a bigger (and better) screen, has a niche 200mp camera, better battery experience imo, fun and customizable software.
- Nothing Phone 3a: same price as the Redmi though with less storage, you get a pretty much vanilla software, you get a telephoto which doesn't exist on the other two, I'd wager it has better battery life too.
- Galaxy s24 fe: much more powerful hardware, dependable camera system, good for smaller hands, has samsung dex, and even gets software updates if you care about that.
- Galaxy z flip 6: like the S24, good for compact use, great for multimedia, has swag potential, even more powerful than the S24, can be found used for cheap
- Poco X7 Pro: cheaper by more than 50% than the pixel 9a, probably the best phone for gaming and multimedia out of all these, huge 6000 mAh and dependable main camera, great performance for the price, and even comes in an iron man edition.

Overall the pixel 9a is shoved down our throats by people such as mkbhd and Arun but I don't think it is that great
 
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: gusmula, MartyvH and Beepster
MartyMcfly88 said:
Time to join the 21st century then. Android is not inferior to iOS no matter how much you guys say so.
Click to expand...
When you don't make your phone your whole identity, you realize it's just a tool. What matters is if the tool has the features that fits your needs. Sorry Fandroids and Fan Bois, y'all need to grow up. This is what I see when I see Fandroids arguing with Fan Bois.
1567630525146

I'd pass on both phones since neither have memory slots. I want at least 1TB of storage for videos and photos. I'm raising the bar on my next phone to 2TB of storage as 2TB microSD is a thing now. The other deal breaker is having a firewall on my phone. That requires root access, since neither Google nor Apple will ever build a firewall into their mobile OS. :mad:

Edit: The best answer to the 6 or 9 problem is it's 7.5 ± 1.5.😁
 
  • Like
Reactions: Beepster and Jumpthesnark
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back