Google Pixel 8a vs 5a 5G
66
out of 100
VS
49
out of 100
Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.1-inch Google Pixel 8a (with Google Tensor G3) that was released on May 7, 2024, against the Google Pixel 5a 5G, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G and came out 2 years and 9 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
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 8a
- 2.4x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1433K versus 597K)
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Delivers 75% higher peak brightness (1513 against 866 nits)
- Handles wireless charging up to 7.5W
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.3)
- More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 14
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 3200 MHz
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networks
- Has 33% more RAM: 8GB versus 6GB
- The phone is 2 years and 9 months newer
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 5a 5G
- Shows 19% longer battery life (23:33 vs 19:43 hours)
- Thinner bezels – 5% more screen real estate
- Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
Review
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
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | OLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.1 inches | 6.34 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 430 ppi | 413 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (60-120 Hz) | No |
| Max rated brightness | 2000 nits | 500 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1400 nits | 800 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10 | Yes, HDR10 |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 81.3% | 86.3% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 99.1% | - |
| PWM | 120 Hz | - |
| Response time | 2 ms | - |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | - |
Screen space comparison
Pixel 5a 5G
6.34″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.3 in2
Pixel 8a
6.1″ (20:9 ratio) = 13.9 in2
~9% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 152.1 mm (5.99 inches) | 156.2 mm (6.15 inches) |
| Width | 72.7 mm (2.86 inches) | 73.2 mm (2.88 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) | 8.8 mm (0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 188 g (6.63 oz) | 183 g (6.46 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP67 | IP67 |
| Rear material | Plastic | Metal |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Blue, Green | Black |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, rear |
| Repairability | Good (3.52/5) | - |
| Drop resistance | Excellent (A) · 270 drops | - |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Google Tensor G3 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G |
| Max clock | 3000 MHz | 2400 MHz |
| CPU cores | 9 (1 + 4 + 4) | 8 (1 + 1 + 6) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 1.7 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 4 cores at 2.37 GHz: Cortex-A715 - 1 core at 2.91 GHz: Cortex-X3 |
- 6 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 475 Silver (Cortex-A55) - 1 core at 2.2 GHz: Kryo 475 Gold (Cortex-A76) - 1 core at 2.4 GHz: Kryo 475 Prime (Cortex-A76) |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | Samsung |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 7 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Hexagon 696 |
| Graphics | Immortalis-G715s MC10 | Adreno 620 |
| GPU shading units | 896 | 384 |
| GPU clock | 890 MHz | 750 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~1594.8 GFLOPS | ~480 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 8490 | - |
| Single-core score | 1491 | 851 |
| Multi-core score | 3584 | 2078 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 546093 | 235764 |
| GPU | 391230 | 68267 |
| Memory | 195569 | 122137 |
| UX | 300801 | 170985 |
| Total score | 1433693 | 597153 |
| Samples | [6 tests] | Less than 3 |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | 67% | - |
| Graphics test | 7 FPS | - |
| Graphics score | 990 | - |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | - | 99% |
| Graphics test | - | 2 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 446 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | - | 6739 |
| Video editing | - | 5699 |
| Photo editing | - | 19870 |
| Data manipulation | - | 7976 |
| Writing score | - | 11348 |
Recent User Tests
Google Pixel 8a
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2025-12-28 (adismsha) | AnTuTu 11 | 1471866 |
| 📘 2025-12-22 -> jpara_dise | Geekbench 6 GPU | 8490 |
| 📘 2025-12-22 -> jpara_dise | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1491 / 3584 |
| 📘 2025-12-22 -> jpara_dise | AnTuTu 11 | 1397797 |
| 📘 2025-12-17 (jpara_dise) | AnTuTu 11 | 1397797 |
Google Pixel 5a 5G
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2025-11-15 (Артём) | AnTuTu 11 | 597153 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 3200 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | UFS 2.1 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 14 (Can be upgraded to Android 17) | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 14) |
| ROM | Stock Android | Stock Android |
| OS size | 18.4 GB | - |
| OS updates | 7 years | - |
| Security updates | 7 years | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 4492 mAh | 4680 mAh |
| Max charge power | 18 W | 18 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (7.5 W) | No |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (33% in 30 min) | Yes (42% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 2:09 hr | 1:40 hr |
| Battery cycles | 1000 cycles | - |
| Web browsing | 08:15 hr | 09:17 hr |
| Watching video | 13:00 hr | 14:15 hr |
| Gaming | 04:54 hr | 05:59 hr |
| Standby | 86 hr | 114 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 64 megapixels | 12.2 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 9000 x 7000 | 4290 x 2800 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | Dual LED | LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 119° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 64 MP 2) Ultrawide: 13 MP |
1) Standard: 12.2 MP 2) Ultrawide: 16 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 64 MP | 12.2 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.9 | f/1.7 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 27 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX787 | Sony IMX363 Exmor RS |
| Sensor size | 1/1.73" (≈ 0.58 inch) | 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | 1.4 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 13 MP | 16 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | - | 24 mm |
| Sensor | Sony IMX712 | Sony IMX481 |
| Sensor size | 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) | 1/3.09" (≈ 0.32 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | 1 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | 60 | - |
| Preview | 71 | - |
| Zoom | 126 | - |
| Samples | Photo samples of Google Pixel 8a from DxOMark | - |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 13 megapixels | 8 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4032 x 3024 | 3264 x 2448 |
| Aperture | - | f/2.0 |
| Focal length | - | 24 mm |
| Sensor | - | CMOS |
| Sensor size | - | 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 1.12 micron |
| Autofocus | - | No |
| Stabilization | - | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/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 MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.3 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.2 | 3.1 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | Yes | - |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| eSIM support* | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 20 | 15 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | Yes |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | No | No |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Mid-range | Mid-range |
| Announced | May 2024 | August 2021 |
| Release date | May 2024 | October 2021 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $499 | $449 |
| Successor | - Google Pixel 10a | - Google Pixel 10a |
| Sensors | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | Not included | Yes, 18 W |
*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 8a is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 11