Google’s Pixel 3a was announced last month at the company’s annual developer conference, to great fanfare. It soon started selling on Amazon’s website, and now it has becomes the #1 best-seller in the unlocked smartphones category.
That didn’t take long at all. And it shouldn’t be a surprise.
The Pixel 3a gained a lot of hype when Google announced it at I/O in May, because it featured basically everything that the more expensive Pixel 3 had, but for about half the price.
This included that same 12.2-megapixel camera and software behind that camera. Giving users a pretty impressive smartphone camera for around $400, which isn’t easy to do. It is also running the latest version of Android and will be getting Android Q later this summer when it launches – it’s currently in the beta program.
Pixel 3a’s specs aren’t super high-end and at $399, you wouldn’t expect it to be. It sports a Full HD+ OLED display, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 670 chipset, with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage inside. There’s also a larger battery inside both Pixel 3a models, when compared to their more expensive counter-parts. That right there is going to make the Pixel 3a a more impressive smartphone. Bigger battery with a lower-resolution display, and a more battery efficient processor inside.
The Pixel 3a did have to sacrifice the Pixel Visual Core. Which is an ISP that Google has developed for its Pixel smartphones, and that’s what makes the Pixel take such great photos. But in real-life usage, it hasn’t really taken a hard hit. Images still come out pretty impressive, the only main differences you’ll see is that the processing takes a little bit longer and Portrait Mode is now cropped in a bit more than normal.
But is that enough to make the Pixel 3a the best-selling unlocked smartphone on Amazon? Maybe not. However, if you look at the other phones that are listed on Amazon’s best-selling list for unlocked smartphones, it’s not hard to see why the Pixel 3a is number one. Number two is the BLU Studio Mega. This is largely only number two because it is just $69. But number three is the Samsung Galaxy A10, which is a pretty decent phone, but it doesn’t share many of the same features of the more expensive Galaxy S10 models, like the Pixel 3a does. It is also much cheaper, however, at just $139.
The majority of the best-selling unlocked smartphones on Amazon are much less expensive than the already inexpensive Pixel 3a. This is because people don’t want to spend a ton on their smartphone. So something that’s about $150 is going to do better than a $400 smartphone. But the Pixel 3a has shown that it’s not just about price. People also care about the camera, and battery life. Some also care about getting actual updates. Out of the phones on this list, the Pixel 3a is probably the only one that will get Android Q – ever.
If you are interested in picking up the Pixel 3a or Pixel 3a XL, you can grab one from the link below.
Google Pixel 3a - Amazon - $399