The Pixel 9a’s 8GB RAM is a bad joke for an AI phone promising to last seven years

Google has one of the best update policies of any smartphone brand. Even the new and very affordable Pixel 9a will receive the same seven years of OS and security updates as its farm more pricey Pixel 9 Pro models. At $499, that’s an absolute bargain if you plan to keep the handset for the foreseeable future.

However, Google somewhat undermines this premise with a mediocre memory configuration. I can overlook the limited 128GB of storage to save costs, even if most of us will quickly fill it up with new photos, videos, and increasingly hefty apps before the decade’s end. There’s a 256GB version that you absolutely should consider if you want to make the most of the phone for this long.