Google Pixel 9a vs iPhone 16e!

This is the new $499 Google Pixel 9a. This is the $599 iPhone 16e. And this is one of the most fascinating head-to-head battles of this generation. Because it's not just Android versus iPhone. This is Google's 2025 vision for what the software and hardware of Android should be versus Apple's 2025 vision at their mid-range price points. So which of these two companies actually gives you more? I'm going to rate the phones based on how good I think they are in each category out of 10. And then at the end, we're going to factor in the price So as far as what you get with the phones, both Google and Apple these days offer you the ultimate in environment conservation. Basically nothing. With the Pixel, you get no case, no screen protector, no charger, just the cable, the phone, and vibes. Except not really any vibes. And then over in Apple's corner, it's exactly the same story. Cable at the bottom and the phone. So a very mediocre start, but also a very similar start. I'd give both of these phones four points for box contents. And the similarities, they only ramp up. I mean, the thing that actually convinced me to make this video comparing these two phones is look at the designs. From the frosted backs to the logo placements to the flash being just to the right of the camera, even the texture and the curve of the aluminum on the side rails, it very much feels like we're looking at Google and Apple's take on the exact same phone concept. Two devices that feel designed to go head to head. And while I have to say, I do like the fact that Apple's has a glass back as opposed to Google's plastic. I guess Apple decided after the iPhone 5C back in the day totally bombed that materials were one thing that they couldn't flex on. But then in other ways, very much flex on. It's just that the way that Google has finished their plastic, it doesn't really feel any different. This doesn't feel like a cheaper phone than this. They both feel like fancy phones. They both have IP68 ratings now. I'm quite impressed. Also, this is like the tiniest camera bump that I've seen in the last five years, apart from Red Magic, who's managed to go completely flush. I do have a pretty major problem with this, but aesthetically speaking, I like it. So for design, I'm going to go eight points to Pixel, eight to the iPhone. Completely neck and neck so far. So what about the displays? Well, the second that you turn these two phones on, one thing becomes quite clear. That if we're considering the full spectrum of phone displays out there, neither of these guys is winning any awards. I mean, the Pixel is surrounded by a border that's at least 20% thicker than you'd want it to be at this price. And the iPhone has a notch. I thought we were done with notches. I was so happy to be done with notches. I guess this is Apple's way of making something mid-range, giving you tech that's one step back from the current seamless dynamic island, while sitting clearly one step forward from the straight up black bars that you'd get across the cheaper iPhone SEs. Either way, not a huge fan. And I'd actually side towards the Pixel just generally with display. The 9a is a lot brighter than last year's 8a, and so definitively outclasses the iPhone if you go outdoors, you know, if you're into that. Plus, Google's managed to get a 120Hz refresh rate onto here. Actually, let me rephrase. Apple hasn't managed to get a 120Hz refresh rate onto here. That feels like the bigger headline. So almost everything feels quite a bit smoother over at Team Google. Although weirdly, this is one of the very few phones I've seen with which you get a high refresh rate display, but it's turned off by default, so most people won't end up using it. Bear in mind, the iPhone is slightly higher resolution, so videos might look a little crisper, and it uses stronger glass on the front. So when you factor in everything, it's not a massive display lead for Google, but it is a lead nonetheless. So Pixel gets seven, iPhone gets six. And while we're watching content on the phones, how's the audio quality? This is Pixel. Now this is iPhone. Okay, the iPhone sounds very good, like as good as its flagship counterparts. You feel like you're hearing the full range of your music right down to the bass. The Pixel is still very much acceptable phone audio, but just noticeably more compressed sounding. But then the other side to the audio coin, which is every bit as important, is how clear are your phone calls? So right now I'm calling Drisha on the Google Pixel. Drish, how clear or unclear would you say I sound to you? To me, your voice is actually peaking a little bit. It's cracking at the high end. I'm interested to see if that changes. I'm going to call you from the iPhone now. Okay, okay, that's immediately clearer. If Pixel was a 6.5, this is an 8. Bear in mind as well, both phones have the same eSIM. They're connected to the same Wi-Fi network, but still like a large difference in both how I sound and how the other person sounds. I'd go for nine points. Pixel isn't bad, but it's pretty middle of the line. Six points. So both phones are still quite closely tied. And the thing that you have to give to both Google and Apple is that they're more affordable phones. Both use the same chipsets as their higher end phones, the Tensor G4 and the A18. It's one of those things where, because both companies have their own custom chips made specifically for their flagships, then it's actually cheaper for them to just reuse those chips in their more affordable phones than it would be to create some sort of separate manufacturing branch just to specifically make weaker chips. Now, there is one slight catch with the iPhone. See, when you're manufacturing chipsets, you don't always get a perfect result. Sometimes one of your cores isn't performing up to scratch. And so what Apple does in these instances is something called binning. And I don't mean just, you know, throwing it in the trash. It's kind of the opposite. They'll manufacture the top-end chipsets first. And in doing so, they will just naturally find a bunch that have at least one defective core. But then instead of just, you know, yeeting the chips entirely, they'll instead just purposefully disable those funky cores completely and then use what's left of the chip for their non-flagship phones. So while it sounds like you get the same A18 chip on the 16e that you would actually get in the more expensive iPhone 16, it actually has just four graphics cores instead of the normal five. But then on the other hand, Apple's A18 is so much more powerful than Google's Tensor to begin with that even with this slight nerf, the iPhone does completely destroy Google in real world gaming environments. We're talking like a 40% plus lead. So six points to Pixel, nine points to the iPhone. When it comes to software though, we're at the stage now where it's not like either Android nor iOS is particularly missing any of the key features. They can both basically do everything. But what I would say is cool is that what you're getting on these two mid-range phones is still the best versions of those softwares. Like Google's promised seven years of Android updates to this phone and Apple's promised five for their phone, just like they do on their flagships. And they do usually end up delivering more than that. Google Pixel phones are completely free from bloatware. Same goes for the iPhone. This is the definitive Android experience with pretty much every software feature still intact from the flagship Google Pixel 9s. You get all the Gemini smart assistant stuff, which is now a lot cleverer than it used to be. It feels kind of crazy to have this power at the press of a button now. You get the editing features like Admi to be able to take two group shots and combine the results so everyone makes the cut. And the really rather impressive magic editor that lets you erase things, but also completely change up existing shots that you've already taken. And then on the other hand, this is the definitive iOS experience with not really any software feature missing that the top end phones have, unless you count dynamic island and camera control. But as software features, I'd consider those highly optional. Now that said, I actually personally think right now that Android just generally as a platform is in a better place than iOS is. You know, there's way more AI features while Apple's AI is floundering. It feels like it's getting more stable, which I can't say for iOS. And some of iOS's recent design changes, like the photos gallery, I just find them baffling. So personally, I would say for software, Pixel gets a nine, iPhone gets a seven. And you might be sitting there wondering now, well, Aaron, you just gave Android more points than iOS, but your main phone is still an iPhone. Make it make sense. Well, that's where the next category comes in. Because where I think Apple pulls ahead is ecosystem. Most of you are likely already in and fairly locked into either the Apple or the Android ecosystem. But if you assume for a minute that you are neutral, you are deciding between these two phones and we're completely open to fully adopting all of the products built around whichever one of these two you pick, then I think Apple wins by a landslide. Firstly, because even on their own, Apple's ecosystem products are largely class-leading. Like the iPad, for example, completely destroys Google's Pixel tablet, which at this point is quite dated and very underpowered. Apple TV is, from my experience, a better TV box than the Google TV streamer. It feels more premium to use and it just like never lags. Watches and earphones are a little more debatable because while I do think the Apple Watch and the AirPods are great, I also think the Pixel Watch 3 is by far the best watch Google has ever made. And the Pixel Buds Pro 2 as well feel top of the line. But then again, I think the MacBook is the best consumer-grade laptop you can buy, unless you're a gamer or you need like a specific app that only works on Windows. And I don't even think it's a competition compared to like a Google-made Chromebook. Now, bear in mind, the upside with Android is that you don't need to specifically buy in-house Google-made stuff. You could buy a Samsung tablet and a Dell laptop. But then the downside is that the integration you get isn't as deep. Because those products, they're not designed completely around each other like Apple's are. There's a second part to this ecosystem equation too, that iPhones generally integrate slightly smoother into the wider world. Like you'll just have an easier time doing stuff. Like for example, Apple's Face ID. It's not just for logging into your phone. You can also use it to like authenticate bank transactions within third-party banking apps, much more so than you can with Google Pixel's fingerprint scanner, for example. You'll have more variety when it comes to accessories and cases because it is far easier for a company to design something around one of the five or so iPhones released in a year versus the thousand Android devices. But it's also just that there's a lot of developers who specifically prioritize a smooth app experience for iPhone users over Android users. Even like the leisure center that I used to go to, if you had an iPhone, you could install your membership card digitally. It would show up automatically in your Apple Watch. So easy. Whereas if you had an Android, well, you just still had to carry around a physical card like you were in the previous era. Or like our gym equipment in this house, it syncs perfectly with Apple Health, could not get it to work with Android. So it's this kind of stuff that has meant that even though I do think that Android in isolation is a better software platform right now, I've still personally decided to use an iPhone. So I've got Pixel 8 points, iPhone 10 points, which does mean Apple is starting to take the lead here. Cameras though is, it's a bit of a sorry case on both phones, to be honest, because I mean like the Pixel 9a, for example, actually seems to have had a camera downgrade from the 8a. The main camera has a smaller sensor and it's 48 megapixels compared to the 64 that we got last time around. I'm assuming they've had to do this to be able to create this nearly flat design, but it's not a great look, prioritizing form over function. But even then, Google's actually looking pretty great compared to Apple, who's literally just given you a 48 megapixel main camera and no ultrawide. It actually feels really strange using a phone without one because of how fundamental of a feature ultrawide has become these days, especially for a $600 device. As for how good the main cameras are, they're both fine. They're mid-range phones and they feel like mid-range phones. They take very similar quality shots with two just slightly different styles. They're both fairly fast to capture and they have reliable autofocus, but then equally they both completely suck when it comes to zooming in. Like this shot here was taken at eight times zoom. But when you look at the quality, you might've thought it was 80. And then of course the iPhone's video is a little bit cleaner, especially since one of the few Google Pixel features that this more affordable A-series phone does miss out on is video boost, which would have helped. So I'd say the iPhone's main camera is very slightly better than the Pixel's main camera, but then the Pixel has a large advantage having this whole extra second camera. And then for selfies, I absolutely love that the Pixel can go ultrawide for group shots, but also just selfies that capture your surroundings. But then I absolutely hate the fact that it doesn't have autofocus. So unless you hold your hand out and specifically go wide, your face will actually be very slightly out of focus. Both phones do also have optical image stabilization, but if you want the proper action camera experience, then I have never used a better one than the Insta360 Ace Pro 2, our sponsor. Up until now, you hear action camera, you think GoPro, right? But look at this. This is being shot on the new Insta360. This is shot on the very latest GoPro Hero 13 Black. And I mean, long story short, the massive sensor, the Leica lens, and the new dual AI chip on this thing, all thrown together just means there's a night and day difference between these two. The thing also has a completely flippable screen and an integrated wind guard, which pairs with software wind reduction to make it sound way better too when things get hectic. And for the first 30 orders using my link, you can have yourself an exclusive 10% discount and a free all-in-one tripod like this. Link below to check out the Ace Pro 2. And now the final pillar for these phones is the battery. And just to give you an idea, I ran a two-hour battery test simulation doing a combination of social media scrolling, YouTube watching, and general app use. With the Pixel on its smooth 120 Hertz mode, and the iPhone just being an iPhone at 60 Hertz. And the Pixel finished that test with 86% left. The iPhone had 91. Now I could have kept the Pixel on 60 Hertz and gotten longer battery life. But given that 120 Hertz is one of the key selling points, and because we've already given this phone extra points in the display category for having it, I think it makes sense to also keep that mode on for battery testing. And assuming you do that day-to-day, the iPhone will consistently last longer. But even the Pixel is easily enough to get you through the day, thanks to a 5,100 milliamp hour cell on the inside. So they both have pretty great batteries. They both have very underwhelming charging. As you've seen, both phones come without a charger, and they also have some pretty mediocre wired charging speeds. And while they do support wireless charging, it's nothing particularly fast or exciting, with neither utilizing magnets to make it any faster or more efficient, leading to battery scores of six to Pixel and seven to iPhone. So that actually makes it very close in the end. But we do have a winner. And it's not the iPhone. Because yes, Apple is ahead. It's got 8% more points overall. But when you factor in that you have to pay 20% more to get that, being $599 instead of 499, plus the fact that these Pixels are practically guaranteed to be on sale in a few months while iPhones are like the opposite, I would actually say Google is more likely to be the better value overall package in 2025. But wait for a sale.