Google last week launched the Pixel 6a, a $449 budget smartphone designed to compete with more affordable smartphones like Apple’s iPhone SE. We picked up a Pixel 6a to see how it stacks up against the iPhone SE in terms of design, performance and camera tech.
The Pixel 6a has a 6.1-inch 1080p OLED display, which means it’s slightly larger than the 4.7-inch iPhone SE. The Pixel 6a’s screen is also higher quality because the iPhone SE still uses years-old LCD technology.
Compared to the Pixel 6a, the iPhone SE looks old. It has thick bezels on the top and bottom, while the Pixel 6a uses a much more modern hole-punch design for the camera, with minimal bezels. The iPhone SE has a Touch ID home button that’s superior to the under-display fingerprint sensor on the 6a, which was slow and imprecise in our tests.
With its glass back panel, the iPhone SE supports Qi-based wireless charging, but lacks the MagSafe technology found in more modern iPhones. The Pixel 6a has a plastic back that isn’t as premium and doesn’t work with wireless charging, but the smartphone has a much bigger battery capacity at 4500mAh.
Apple put its latest A15 chip in the iPhone SE, while the Pixel 6a uses a Google-designed Tensor chip. It’s hard to do a one-to-one comparison due to the software differences between the two devices, but both felt snappy with no performance issues or hiccups.
In terms of camera setups, the iPhone SE has a single wide-angle lens, while the Pixel 6a has a standard wide-angle lens and an ultra-wide-angle lens. We did a photoshoot with both smartphones and, as we often find with modern devices, both cameras performed admirably with only a few differences between them.
In low-light situations indoors, the Pixel 6a produces images that are more in line with the real thing, while the iPhone SE will brighten things up a bit more. The iPhone SE has warmer tendencies, with the Pixel 6a’s photos coming out more neutral in tone.
With images that have bright colors, the iPhone SE tends to have more vibrancy and sharpness, but when it comes down to it, both are high quality and choosing one is a matter of preference.
When it comes to Portrait mode, the Pixel 6a does a better job. There’s strong bokeh with sharp edges, better color accuracy, and no blurring of the parts of the photo that aren’t meant to be blurred. Both the smartphones also have selfie cameras that offer similar performance.
If you’re not locked into the Apple ecosystem and are looking for an affordable smartphone with a modern feature set, the Pixel 6a trumps the iPhone SE, with perhaps the exception of the processor. However, the Pixel 6a runs on Android, so it’s not ideal for those who own Apple devices, and it’s also not the best choice for those who prefer smaller smartphones due to its size. 6.1 inches.
What do you think of the Pixel 6a? Let us know in the comments.