Google Pixel 6a vs. Pixel 3a: Time to upgrade?
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The Pixel 6a is not just the best smartphone you can get for $350; it is probably the best-valued Android phone with a great camera, good performance, and fantastic software features.
The Pixel 3a takes the absolute best of the Pixel 3 and 3XL and pairs it with a mid-range processor and plastic body to create an affordable smartphone with all the Google smarts. Even though this phone has several successors, it’ll be fondly remembered for years to come as the start of an important lineage of mid-range phones.
TheGoogle Pixel 3ahas achieved classic status in its life cycle, though it’s no longer on our list offavorite Android phones. At the time of its release, it was a welcome step by Google towards an affordable version of its flagship phone that sacrificed little to reduce the price point. It maintained the excellent cameras, Google Assistant features, and software support that we’d come to associate with the Pixel phone while slightly decreasing overall performance by opting for a lesser processor.
Now the Pixel 7a is available, and in terms of software support, the 3a has been officially sunsetted. This also means that thePixel 6ais significantly more affordable than when it was the leading mid-range Pixel. So is there any value in sticking with (or buying used) a 3a at this point, or is the 6a the clear winner?
Price, availability, and specs
Finding a new Pixel 3a at this stage is impossible, and Google has officially retired the model from all of its retail outlets. It also appears to be unavailable from all major carriers, so your best bet for sourcing one at this point is to find a renewed model at Amazon or another major online retailer (where they’re readily available). The good news is that the 3a is available at bargain-basement prices — you’ll frequently find them refurbished for under $100, and you may get the XL version for under $140.
The Google Pixel 6a, on the other hand, has come down in price, but not nearly as dramatically as we might’ve hoped. While the MSRP at release was $400, it’s now had an official price drop to $350, and is routinely available on Amazon for around $300.
Notably, the processor in the 6a is no longer a mid-range Snapdragon SoC. The 6a runs the same first-generation Google Tensor chipset as the regular Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, making it a solid 5G phone, though not one of thebest 5G phonesout there.
Both phones share the design of the flagship they are based on, and while the 3a is still a handsome-looking phone, it doesn’t hold a candle to the unique design the Pixel 6 series has adopted. The 3a is all plastic, but the 6a adopts a metal frame for more durability while retaining the plastic back, which is now glossy rather than matte.
Both devices use the design of the flagship they were launched alongside, and while the Pixel 3 series is still a nice-looking set of devices, they can’t hold a candle to the new design language used on the Pixel 6a. The two-tone design and camera bar make the phone stand out in a sea of similar-looking Android phones.
The Pixel 3 series had an almost two-tone design, with the top part of the phone surrounding the camera being a slightly different shade from the rest of the phone. The 6a leans into this more heavily, with a black camera bar adding contrast to all models and a different shade of whichever color you choose flanking it.
The trusty capacitive fingerprint reader on the back of the 3a is gone on the newer phone, which has an optical scanner under the display. It’s slower and less reliable than the one found in the old 3a, but it still does the job well. The headphone jack is also missing, but that’s inevitable.
The Pixel 3a is a comfortable phone to hold, especially if you have the smaller one, and the white model has aged impeccably without any marks, but there’s no denying the design of the 6a.
The Pixel 3a has a 1080p, 5.6-inch OLED display that runs at 60Hz and can reach a peak brightness of 442 nits, which is quite dim. There was also a large 6.0-inch model, but the rest of the specs remain the same.
The display on the 6a isn’t that different. It comes in one size, using a 6.1-inch 1080p OLED running at 60Hz and reaching a max brightness of 500 nits, which is a bit brighter at least. The main upgrade is the ability to display HDR content on YouTube and other streaming services, where the display can be boosted to 800 nits. While those on-paper specs aren’t much different, the 6a is much nicer to use in the real world, thanks to the tiny bezels and hole punch camera. Those enable the 6a to have a larger display than the bigger Pixel 3a XL while only being 1mm taller and wider than the small 3a.
If you own a Pixel 3a, the screen alone probably isn’t enough to warrant upgrading to the new phone, but the improvements made are impressive nonetheless.
Performance
Here is where the Pixel 6a starts to pull a significant lead over the 3a. The 4GB of RAM and Snapdragon 670 were good back in 2019, but those specs don’t come close to the first-generation Tensor SoC paired with 6GB of RAM in the 6a.
The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro have amazing machine learning features like Magic Eraser, lightning-fast voice-to-text, and good Tensor performance; the 6a gets all the same tricks. The 60hz display makes the phone feel a bit sluggish in places, but the 6a is one of the smoothest phones you’ll find, regardless of price.
Another factor in this improved performance is storage. The 3a uses slow eMMC storage, while the 6a gains UFS (ultrafast storage) 3.1, which makes downloading files and opening big apps much smoother than before. You’ll notice this every day, especially when downloading apps, which is almost instant on the 6a.
Despite the 3a and 6a having the same primary front and rear cameras, the 6a takes better photos thanks to the enhanced computational photography the Tensor is capable of. It also benefits from an ultrawide lens, which offers more flexibility than the older model. While the new camera features, like Action Pan, are nice, the differences overall are minor.
The Pixel 6a was launched with the sameAndroid 12currently running on the Pixel 3a, but it was updated toAndroid 13in August 2022. There are still not too many differences between the two, given that Android 13 is a smaller update. However, Android 13 adds select upgrades such as per-app languages, more granular permissions, and smallMaterial Youand UI enhancements.
The Pixel 3a reached its end of life (EOL) in May 2022 and won’t see a software update ever again — it is stuck on Android 12 forever. Meanwhile, the Pixel 6a can already run theAndroid 14 beta. The newer phone will see at least three Android upgrades up to Android 15 and receive two more years of security patches. Here lies the main reason to upgrade.
As time goes on, the 3a will become more vulnerable to online threats, while the 6a will be kept updated and safe until 2027. Each month and year, the 6a will leave its older sibling behind.
Should you upgrade?
At this point, if you’re still holding on to a 3a, upgrading to aGoogle Pixel 6ais well worth the fairly minor investment. The 3a was a market leader at the time of its release in the Android mid-range, but it is definitely starting to show its age, and if nothing else, the lack of continued updates and software support is a significant mark against it. Given that its performance wasn’t elite at release, it feels even more sluggish by contemporary standards. Even more importantly, security patches are no longer coming to the 3a, andkeeping your phone securehas never been more important.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a cheap first phone for a child, or something user-friendly and competent for another family member, the 3a remains a solid option. It still bears all the hallmarks of Google’s thoughtful design philosophy, and even though it feels slow compared to modern flagships, it’s not so plodding as to be a real hindrance. For under $100, it’s a significantly better value than many brand-new phones in that price range if you’re not ready to shell out slightly more for one of thebest budget Android phoneson our list.
A return to form
With the Google Pixel 7a currently available, the price of the 6a has dropped (and will likely continue to depress going forward), so it’s in that sweet spot of being just a single generation behind in terms of tech but significantly discounted compared to the latest iteration.
The only situations where we’d recommend buying a Pixel 3a are if you’re buying a “disposable” phone for a kid or loved one or want a cheap media player. The 64GB should hold all of your Spotify playlists, and the included headphone jack is something a lot of people miss having on their phones. For less than $100, the 3a should serve that role well.
Where it began
Now that software updates and security patches have been sunsetted for the 3a, it’s right on the cusp of falling completely out of the realm of feasible usability. That said, with renewed models currently available for less than $100, and given what a strong phone it was at launch, it’s still an outside option as a first phone for a kid.
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