Ron Amadeu
Google’s budget mogul, the Pixel 6a, officially launched on Thursday, but you can already get a $50 deal. From now until August 7th at 11:59pm PT, buying the $449 smartphone from one of several retailers, including Amazon, Target, Best Buy, and Google itself, will get you a $50 gift in the form of store credit for the respective. shops.
To see the deal on Amazon, you’ll need to scroll down to the “Special Offers” section of the Pixel 6a’s store page and click the “Add Both to Cart” button. The retailer will then send a physical gift card with the purchase. You can pick up the Target gift card in-store or online, the Best Buy gift card arrives digitally via email, and Google Store will apply it to your Google Store account after purchase. The deal applies to the unlocked version of the phone at each retailer, with activation on major carriers through Best Buy or through Google Fi at the Google Store.
The Pixel 6a is the mid-range version of Google’s impressive flagship phones, the $599 Pixel 6 and the $899 Pixel 6 Pro, which launched in late 2021. As it has done since the Pixel 3, Google followed up its flagship devices with a lower price. version priced across its A-series, which has historically delivered great value in offering a taste of flagship performance (especially in the camera) at a more palatable price.
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The story is no different this year with the Pixel 6a. Our review called it Google’s best take on a mid-priced model yet, with Ars Reviews editor Ron Amadeo calling the 6a “the device.” [we’ll] recommend to anyone looking for an Android phone” from now on. The main reason is that the Pixel 6a uses the same Google-built Tensor system-on-chip (SoC) as the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. In our tests, We found this chip to be twice as fast as the Pixel 5a.
The lower price means the 6a swaps the Pixel 6’s glass back for glossy plastic, flattens the rounded curves of the 6’s front, and loses wireless charging (as well as a headphone jack for the first time on a phone of series A). Its screen is also smaller (at 6.1 inches) and slower (with a standard 60Hz refresh rate), and it technically offers slightly less RAM (at 6GB).
But as with all of Google’s Pixel phones, you still get a clean, easy-to-use take on Android with limited effectiveness, three years of guaranteed major OS updates, and five years of security updates. The device also features an in-display fingerprint sensor, a first for the Pixel A line. All in all, the 6a is a good deal at its standard MSRP, but this deal should increase the value for those who they need a new phone right now.
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