Google's Pixel 9a Misses Out on a Couple of Pixel AI Features

Google's budget phone for the masses, the Pixel 9a, will retail at $499 when it launches in April. That's a full $100 less than the iPhone 16e and $300 less than the Pixel 9. Even so, the 9a has many of the same features as the Pixel 9. It carries over the same Tensor G4 chip, and promises to feature most of the Pixel 9's AI suite.

Most, but not all. Ars Technica is now reporting that the Pixel 9a will be missing some crucial AI features at launch. That's because the Pixel 9a features 8GB RAM, while the Pixel 9 has 12GB RAM, and the Pixel 9 Pro models feature 16GB RAM.

While the Pixel 9a comes with on-device Gemini Nano, Ars Technica confirmed with Google that it's going to be using the Gemini Nano 1.0 XXS ("extra extra small") model. This is the company's lightest available model, and the one that runs on the Pixel 8. The rest of the Pixel 9 series phones, by comparison, all run the Gemini Nano XS (extra small) model.

While you can still use Gemini AI on Pixel 9a using the power button, being limited to the XXS model means it will lack some of the Pixel line's tentpole AI features. The 8GB RAM is not enough to run the Gemini AI models in the background, and the XXS model is text-only.

Because it can't run in the background, and it can't process images, it therefore can't support features like Pixel Screenshots app, which require image processing in the background. It also won't support Call Notes, a feature that uses audio analysis to provide on-device AI summaries of phone conversations. Additionally, it's possible that the Pixel line's newly announced spam detection feature might not be available on the Pixel 9a, but that's not confirmed as of yet.

Luckily, the Recorder app will still work, because the app creates a transcript first (not using Gemini AI), and then uses AI on the transcribed text, something that Pixel 9a can pull off.

That's all we know so far. More details on what works and what doesn't will only be available once the Pixel 9a is available in the wild, sometime in April. With this Pixel 9a release, the gap between the flagship Pixel and the budget Pixel is widening. Luckily, it's limited to AI features for now. If you don't intend to use these on-device AI features, you won't feel the pinch.

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