Google Pixel 8a: Australian Pricing, Specifications and Early Thoughts

Google has announced the Pixel 8a – and here’s what you need to know about its new more-affordable (sort of) Pixel phone, as well as some early thoughts of mine about where Google’s positioning its Pixel lineup.

When can I buy the Pixel 8a in Australia?

The Pixel 8a will be available to pre-order in Australia from the 8th of May 2024, with actual phones available to buy from the 14th of April 2024.

Or in other words, you’ll be able to pre-order one by the time you’re reading this, and they’ll be on sale next Tuesday.

How much does the Pixel 8a cost in Australia?

The 128GB variant of the Pixel 8a will cost $849, while the higher storage variant with 256GB of storage will cost $949 outright.

How does the Pixel 8a compare to the Pixel 7a?

Pixel 8a: Alex’s Early Thoughts

Most of what’s going into the Pixel 8a sits rather firmly in the “expected” category; like the Pixel 7a was to the Pixel 7, this is the current-generation Google Tensor processor sitting in a smaller, more affordable frame. It’s nice to see it matching the 7 year OS upgrades promise of the Pixel 8, and the boost in technical battery capacity should – as per what Google’s told me – lead to around a 15% increase in overall battery life. Obviously that’s a claim I have to put to the test.

On paper there’s only slight differences in camera technology – telephoto’s notably absent as it was from the 7a, though the front-facing selfie camera has a slightly wider field of view than its predecessor. Still, Google’s been able to do a lot of smart work with AI-boosting its simpler camera arrays, so hopefully that will carry through to the Pixel 8a. You’ll know for sure once I’ve run a full review.

One unusual detail to glean from Google's official spec sheet is that the model sold in Australia (and the US, UK, Japan, Canada and what I'm presuming are Taiwan and Singapore) have Wi-Fi 6E, but models sold elsewhere may drop down to only supporting Wi-Fi 6.

It somewhat stings that there's a Pixel 8a colour -- Aloe -- that we won't officially see down under, though I suppose that is continuing a trend, because we never officially got the Pixel 7a's "Coral" colour either.

The biggest sting with the Pixel 8a is the rise in asking price, up to $849 or more. One of the truly wonderful things about the Pixel 7a was how affordable it was at $749, and how it sat with a very distinct price gap between it and the Pixel 7 of its time.

Of course there is still a price difference here; at the time of writing the Pixel 8 runs $1,199 to the Pixel 8a’s $849 asking price, but that still places the Pixel 8a in the high mid-range price point at full whack, where it used to be more comfortably in the middle of it.

Also read:
Pixel 7a review

Hey, whatever happened to the Pixel Fold?

Still no news of Australian availability for the Pixel Fold, which all but certainly means we won’t see it on Australian shores – though it’s always possible we might see a Pixel Fold 2 later on this year.

Maybe.

Hey Google, if you're listening, send one my way...

(Worth a try, no?)

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