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Google Pixel 6a vs Pixel 4

56 out of 100
Google Pixel 6a
VS
48 out of 100
Google Pixel 4
Google Pixel 6a
Google Pixel 4

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.1-inch Google Pixel 6a (with Google Tensor) that was released on May 11, 2022, against the Google Pixel 4, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 and came out 2 years and 7 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory 6 / 128 GB
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 6a
  • Comes with 1610 mAh larger battery capacity: 4410 vs 2800 mAh
  • Shows 49% longer battery life (20:44 vs 13:56 hours)
  • Delivers 100% higher peak brightness (880 against 440 nits)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
  • Has a 0.4 inch larger screen size
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 13
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 3200 MHz
  • 18% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1015K versus 862K)
  • Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
  • The phone is 2 years and 7 months newer
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 4
  • Higher display refresh rate – 90 Hz
  • The rear camera has a 2x optical zoom
  • Handles wireless charging up to 11W
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Weighs 16 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Google Pixel 6a and Pixel 4 crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 55% Yes
Maybe, but mainly if you specifically want better battery life.
This is a situational upgrade. It makes the most sense if better battery life matters to you.
Main improvements: battery life, performance, and camera.
Be aware: the newer phone is weaker in display.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Pixel 6a
vs
Pixel 4

Display

Type OLED POLED
Size 6.1 inches 5.7 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1080 x 2280 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19:9
PPI 429 ppi 444 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 90 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 500 nits 450 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1100 nits -
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Screen-to-body ratio 82.2% 80.1%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display		 - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 96.9% 95.5%
PWM 240 Hz 367 Hz
Response time 3 ms 2.4 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Screen space comparison
Pixel 6a
6.1″ (20:9 ratio) = 13.9 in2
Pixel 4
5.7″ (19:9 ratio) = 12.6 in2
~10% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Pixel 6a +100%
880 nits
Pixel 4
440 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 152.2 mm (5.99 inches) 147.1 mm (5.79 inches)
Width 71.8 mm (2.83 inches) 68.8 mm (2.71 inches)
Thickness 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) 8.2 mm (0.32 inches)
Weight 178 g (6.28 oz) 162 g (5.71 oz)
Waterproof IP67 IP68
Rear material Plastic Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Green White, Black, Orange
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display No
Screen-to-body ratio
Pixel 6a +3%
82.2%
Pixel 4
80.1%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Google Pixel 6a and Google Pixel 4
SoC
Chipset Google Tensor Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
Max clock 2800 MHz 2840 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 2 + 4) 8 (1 + 3 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex A55
- 2 cores at 2.25 GHz: Cortex A76
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-X1		 - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A55 (Kryo 485 Silver)
- 3 cores at 2.42 GHz: Cortex-A76 (Kryo 485 Gold)
- 1 core at 2.84 GHz: Cortex-A76 (Kryo 485 Gold)
L3 cache 4 MB 2 MB
Manufacturing Samsung TSMC
Lithography process 5 nanometers 7 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Tensor Processing Unit Hexagon 690
GPU
Graphics Mali-G78 MP20 Adreno 640
GPU shading units 640 768
GPU clock 850 MHz 585 MHz
FLOPS ~1085.4 GFLOPS ~898.5 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Google Pixel 6a and Google Pixel 4
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Pixel 6a +59%
1487
Pixel 4
938
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Pixel 6a +39%
3664
Pixel 4
2628
Compute Score (GPU)
Pixel 6a
9543
Pixel 4
n/a
Compute Score (GPU) 9543 -
Single-core score 1487 938
Multi-core score 3664 2628
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Pixel 6a +18%
1015493
Pixel 4
862803
CPU 425227 328636
GPU 126878 142561
Memory 171601 143710
UX 291787 247896
Total score 1015493 862803
Samples [20 tests] Less than 3
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Pixel 6a +114%
1854
Pixel 4
868
Stability 57% 80%
Graphics test 11 FPS 5 FPS
Graphics score 1854 868
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Pixel 6a
10455
Pixel 4 +3%
10742
Web score 7105 8046
Video editing 5884 6483
Photo editing 19072 24363
Data manipulation 10310 8951
Writing score 15550 12805
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Google Pixel 6a
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-26 -> Islom_1180AnTuTu 121235821
📘 2026-08-19 (duwi)AnTuTu 11774697
📘 2026-07-29 (Mimo)AnTuTu 111117985
📘 2026-07-28 (Hypermini)AnTuTu 111015541
📘 2026-07-27 (Ash)AnTuTu 11978066
Add View all (45)
Google Pixel 4
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-04-21 (ultracoretechnologybybkve)AnTuTu 11862803
📘 2024-07-09 (AZEN-SGG)Geekbench 6 CPU789 / 2349
📘 2024-03-01 (lol)Geekbench 6 CPU938 / 2628
Add View all (3)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 6 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR4X
Memory clock 3200 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 4 2
Storage
Storage size 128 GB 64 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 2.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 17) Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM Stock Android -
OS size 14.3 GB 9.55 GB
OS updates 5 years -
Security updates 5 years -

Battery

Capacity 4410 mAh 2800 mAh
Max charge power 18 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No Yes (11 W)
Reverse charging No No
Fast charging Yes (42% in 30 min) Yes (50% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:51 hr 1:20 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 08:25 hr 05:06 hr
Watching video 14:20 hr 08:59 hr
Gaming 05:34 hr 03:32 hr
Standby 89 hr 68 hr
General battery life
Pixel 6a +49%
20:44 hr
Pixel 4
13:56 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 12.2 megapixels 12.2 megapixels
Image resolution 4032 x 3024 4000 x 3000
Zoom Digital Optical, 2x
Flash Dual LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 114° 119°
Lenses 1) Standard: 12.2 MP
2) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 12.2 MP
2) Telephoto: 16 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 12.2 MP 12.2 MP
Aperture f/1.7 f/1.7
Focal length 27 mm 28 mm
Sensor Sony IMX363 Sony IMX363
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.4 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution - 16 MP
Aperture - f/2.4
Focal length - 45 mm
Sensor - Sony IMX481
Sensor size - 1/3.09" (≈ 0.32 inch)
Pixel size - 1 micron
Stabilization - Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP -
Aperture f/2.2 -
Focal length 17 mm -
Sensor Sony IMX386 -
Sensor size 1/2.9" (≈ 0.34 inch) -
Pixel size 1.12 micron -
Stabilization Digital -

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Pixel 6a +14%
133
Pixel 4
117
Video quality
Pixel 6a +25%
126
Pixel 4
101
Generic main camera score
Pixel 6a +9%
122
Pixel 4
112
Bokeh 65 -
Preview 67 -
Zoom 74 -
Samples Photo samples of Google Pixel 6a from DxOMark Photo samples of Google Pixel 4 from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 8 megapixels 8 megapixels
Image resolution 3840 x 2160 3264 x 2448
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.0
Focal length 24 mm 22 mm
Sensor Sony IMX355 CMOS
Sensor size 1/2.8" (≈ 0.36 inch) -
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus No No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No Yes
DxOMark front camera
Pixel 6a
n/a
Pixel 4
124
Photo - 116
Video - 136

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 b/g/n/ac)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display		 - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.2 5
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.1 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode - Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 20 18
5G support Yes No

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos No No
Speakers test
Max loudness
Pixel 6a +2%
87.4 dB
Pixel 4
85.6 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Flagship
Announced May 2022 October 2019
Release date June 2022 November 2019
Launch price (MSRP) $449 $799
Successor - Google Pixel 10a - Google Pixel 10 Pro
SAR (head) 0.99 W/kg 1.19 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.31 W/kg 1.39 W/kg
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Face recognition sensor
Bundled charger Not included -
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Google Pixel 6a is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
72 (48%)
78 (52%)
Total votes: 150

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