Joe Maring / Android Authority
Most of the time, it’s easy to put stock into the phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” After all, when it comes to things like a favorite pair of shoes, a favorite bike, or a go-to recipe that you’ve trusted for years, there’s almost no need to rock the boat. You’re probably not going to make your favorite thing much better, so why change it at all?
Well, the opposite usually holds true in the tech space. When it comes to phones, headphones, and even digital cameras, it’s always been about getting just a little bit better.
But now that we’re seeing leaks of the Pixel 10a, it looks like Google is bucking that trend. It’s keeping the features that already made its mid-ranger great, and I think it’s the best possible choice. Here’s why.
What do you think about the Pixel 10a leaks? 19 votes The 10a looks great, it didn't need a major update. 21 % I was hoping for more, but it seems fine. 47 % The leaks look bad. We need bigger changes. 32 %
Real-world practicality always beats minor updates
The thing with minor updates is that they so often open the door to disappointment. After calling the Pixel 9a the best $500 phone I’d ever tested, it’s hard not to expect a minor tweak to make things worse. Google choosing to mess with the careful balance between hardware and software could easily lead to a Galaxy A56 situation — making a mid-range phone that misses the mark by promising too much and delivering too little.
Luckily for Google, its Pixel A series has never been about promising the world. It’s been about giving you access to the best of Pixel power with a few carefully chosen omissions to keep the price in check. Look no further than the Tensor chip. It powers all of Google’s phones, yet isn’t overly concerned with benchmarking against the likes of the Snapdragon 8 Elite or Apple’s A19 Pro. Although it doesn’t benchmark with the best of them, Google’s Tensor chip has always powered an encyclopedia of Gemini features and image-processing capabilities — the things you actually want in a Pixel phone.
Google nailed the Pixel 9a's hardware, what's it really supposed to make better?
So, when I saw that the Pixel 10a would be sticking with many of the same internals from the Pixel 9a, I wasn’t phased. Would I have liked to see Google use its fully custom Tensor G5 chipset? Sure, it probably would have opened the door to several more features. However, it would put the expected $500 price point at risk, potentially closing the gap on the Pixel 10 and leading to, well, the mid-range Samsung situation I talked about.
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