Lanh Nguyen / Android Authority
Last year’s Pixel 9a was a phone that checked almost every box. For $499, its combination of practical hardware, great cameras, excellent software, good battery life, and seven years of software updates was almost too good to be true. But it was true, and the Pixel 9a emerged as one of Android Authority’s highest-reviewed phones of 2025.
As the Pixel 10a has leaked over the past couple of weeks, it’s become increasingly obvious that it won’t be a dramatic upgrade over its predecessor. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing! So long as the 10a addresses the few lingering issues of the 9a, we could be looking at another top-tier budget Android phone.
However, at this point in the rumor cycle, it’s all but confirmed that the Pixel 9a’s biggest shortcoming won’t be fixed by the Pixel 10a. And if that’s the case, it brings into question the entire purpose of Google’s next smartphone.
Is 8GB of RAM enough for the Pixel 10a? 21 votes Absolutely not! What is Google thinking? 29 % More RAM would be nice, but it's not a huge deal. 43 % 8GB is perfectly fine. 29 % Other (let us know in the comments). 0 %
The Pixel 10a has a memory problem
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Google heavily markets the Pixel 9a as an AI phone, as has been the case for all Pixels over the last couple of years. Between Gemini Live, AI photo editing/generation, phone calling features, and more, so much of the modern Pixel experience revolves around AI. And to power these AI tools, you need ample memory.
Unfortunately, memory is that big shortcoming for the Pixel 9a. The phone has just 8GB of RAM, and reports suggest the Pixel 10a isn’t changing this.
Because of how little RAM it has, Google had to outfit the Pixel 9a with its “extra extra small” Gemini Nano model, the same one used in the Pixel 8. If the Pixel 10a is stuck with 8GB of RAM too, it’s likely getting the same Gemini model as a phone released nearly three years ago. And at the rate at which AI tools are developing and getting more resource-hungry, that’s a big problem.
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