Google Pixel 10a leaks have surfaced, but here’s what I really want to see
By | Published: 2025-11-01 06:12:25 | Source: Digital Trends
Google’s Pixel-A series went through an identity makeover in April, but more importantly, Google’s wallet-friendly offering has been very well received. The clean design, coupled with fast performance and a reliable camera, all running on a native, AI-enhanced flavor of Android, makes the Pixel 9a an easy recommendation.
Naturally, expectations of a warm reception weigh heavily on her successor. Unfortunately, it looks like fans are prepared for a bit of disappointment. The Pixel 10a has already appeared in a few healthy leaks – which is par for the course given the history of Pixels – and it looks like the next Pixel-A will play it a little safe.
What will it look like?
Well, simply put, the Pixel 10a may look like an exact copy of its predecessor. People in Android addresses They have shared what they claim are CAD-based “official renders” of the Pixel 10a. There are no surprises about what happens here.
Google is sticking to the same formula that Apple has perfected over the years, which has been using the same basic design language on its phones for a few years, replacing some internals with each new generation. In hindsight, this isn’t necessarily bad news.
I’m a big fan of the clean, minimalist look of the Pixel 9a. It is one of those rare smartphones that avoids the trend of large camera notches on the back. Assuming Google doesn’t change the build materials, we can expect an aluminum frame paired with a plastic back panel that tries to look like glass.
Most importantly, the phone’s design is IP68 certified for dust and water exposure, which is fairly common in the smartphone industry. I just hope Google uses a tougher grade of plastic or polycarbonate on the Pixel 10a, and also pays attention to the air gaps under the case.
The latter was a small flaw with the Pixel 9a. “Although the plastic back feels like glass, there’s too much flex and an unpleasant hollow sound that can’t fool anyone for long,” our review of the phone said.
Although the leaked images depict the Pixel 10a in bright blue, the report states that it is a concept version and the official color palette will be different. Google has traditionally played an adventurous game with the choice of colors on its Pixel phones, and I expect some bubbly and vibrant colors to appear on the upcoming phone.
It appears that the rest of the package will remain unchanged. Thick bezels will stick out, according to the leak, as will the familiar button placement, a contrasting pill-shaped outline for the rear camera lenses, and a wireless charging coil hidden under the plastic casing.
What can he bring to the table?
Now, this is where the Pixel 10a’s mode gets interesting. Google usually equips the Pixel-A phones with the same processor that was launched in the flagship Pixel phones during the same calendar year. But it looks like the upcoming Pixel-A will dig into the Pixel 9 parts bin, rather than the Pixel 10 series phones.
According to the leaks, the Pixel 10a will reportedly come with Tensor G4 silicon, which is installed inside the Pixel 9 series phones, including the Pixel 9a. In short, Google could replicate the same processor for its next device, which is said to be in development under the codename “stallion.”
The Tensor G4 isn’t exactly a bad processor, although it still has a lot of work to do in terms of raw processing and graphics output when compared to the likes of Apple’s A-series processors and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon series of flagship phones. Then there are the lingering issues of performance throttling and poor temperatures on the Pixel phones, which remained unresolved on the Tensor G4.
On the other hand, the device still has enough power, especially with its neural processor, to handle AI tasks on the device. And as Google continues to push more AI capabilities (some of which remain exclusive to its Pixel lineup, at least for a little while), Pixels continue to provide a rewarding software experience.
But we’re not just talking about the usual generation-to-generation gap between Tensor G4 and G5 processors. Google turned to TSMC, the same company behind Apple and Qualcomm processors, to produce the Tensor G5. It doesn’t exactly set the standard leaderboard on fire, but it runs cooler, moves faster, and delivers the best AI performance, yet, on Pixel phones.
When looking at the Tensor G4 from that lens, it’s like a triple whammy of bad news. It’s pretty clear that Google is doing some cost-cutting by equipping the Pixel 10a with a Tensor G4 processor. But keep in mind that we’re still about six months away from the phone’s launch, and it’s plausible that Google could change course.
Google is also expected to use the older Tensor G4 chip because the Tensor G5 is actually a larger chip, and using it would require changing the internal architecture of the Pixel 10a. It’s not clear whether this will be a stripped-down version of the Tensor G4 SoC, or the same notch fitted inside the flagship Pixel 9 series phones.
As for the rest of the hardware, don’t expect any fireworks. The leaks point to a familiar 6.3-inch OLED panel with Full HD resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of internal storage, a 5,100mAh battery, and a dual-camera setup. Given the older processor, some next-gen AI-powered experiences, especially for the cameras, may also be missing from the Pixel 10a.
What would I like to see?
So far, it looks like the Pixel 10a will be a modest iterative upgrade. Some might even call it lazy. I very much hope that Google makes some changes to this device to make it meaningfully stand out from its predecessor, and also to make a splash against competitors like the iPhone 16e and Samsung Galaxy S25 FE.
Initially, the larger camera sensor would be a welcome upgrade. The Pixel 9a offered a fairly capable 48MP main camera, but the 13MP ultra-wide camera wasn’t quite up to the mark. I’m hoping to see a larger 48MP or 50MP sensor dedicated to taking ultra-resolution photos.
However, this seems unlikely, as the Pixel 10 is still stuck with a 13MP ultra-wide camera, although it added a dedicated telephoto lens this year. I’d like to see faster charging and magnetic wireless charging (with Qi2 support) on the Pixel 10a.
Another area where Pixels often lag behind is the heat management and connectivity experience. Social forums are filled with reports of connectivity issues. I wish Google would upgrade the antenna on the Pixel 10a, and if possible, bring back the heat pipeline to make sure the phone runs cool.
Finally, I hope Google keeps the price unchanged, and given the narrow range of upgrades available on the Pixel 10a, it will make sense. Google’s next budget warrior is supposed to arrive in the March-April window next year, and we’re sure to see more leaks as the official launch approaches.
(Tags for translation)Phones
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ
