Pixel 9a vs Galaxy S24 FE preview: The battle for the affordable flagship crown

The prices of flagship phones have been steadily growing in the past couple of years. You can blame inflation or the economic climate, but the fact of the matter is that phones are getting expensive.

This is one of the reasons why the so-called flagship killers, or affordable flagships, have gained so much popularity over the years. Google’s A-series devices that launch between two regular flagship Pixel phones are a go-to option if people try to get the best bang for the buck.

Samsung took notes and tried to emulate this with its Galaxy FE (Fan Edition) model, offering a barebones flagship for not a lot of money.

Today we’re going to pit against each other two models from the aforementioned companies. Models that aim to deliver a flagship experience for midrange money. In the blue corner: the latest member of the Fan Edition family, the Galaxy S24 FE. In the red corner, the upcoming Google Pixel 9a.

This comparison is preliminary at this stage because the Pixel 9a is still not official, and we will update it with benchmarks and tests once we lay our hands on the device. Until then, let’s see how these two stack together.

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When it comes to the design of both phones, it’s a lopsided battle, as we don’t know much about the Pixel 9a yet, and conversely, everything about the Galaxy S24 FE is out in the open. But we’ll try our best.

The Pixel 9a is expected to grow in size, mainly due to its larger 6.3-inch screen (compared to the 6.1-inch display of the previous generation), and the rumored dimensions and weight are 154.7 x 73.3 x 8.9 mm and 186 grams, respectively.

The Galaxy S24 FE, on the other hand, comes in at 162 x 77.3 x 8 mm and 213 grams, making it a larger and heavier device, again due to the bigger 6.7-inch display. The Galaxy is made of aluminum and glass, and we expect the same building blocks on the Pixel 9a.

Now, the design of the Pixel 9a is still a mystery, but there are a few rumors going around. According to an inside source, Google will eliminate the camera bar, and the Pixel 9a will be absolutely flush on the back, no bump whatsoever.

The Galaxy S24 FE is a known entity when it comes to design; it mimics the S-series devices with vertically arranged camera housings on the back and flat sides, front, and back.

Let’s quickly list the available and expected colors for both phones.

Google Pixel 9a expected colors:

• Obsidian
• Porcelain
• Iris
• Peony

Samsung Galaxy S24 FE available colors:

• Blue
• Graphite
• Gray
• Mint
• Yellow

Moving to the display part of the equation, we find the biggest difference between the Pixel 9a and the Galaxy S24 FE. The screen size of the Pixel is substantially smaller at 6.3 inches, while the Galaxy sports a 6.7-inch panel.The resolution is expected to be similar (FHD+), and we already know the exact numbers for the Samsung phone. Its screen has 1080 x 2340 pixels, which at 6.7 inches results in around 385 pixels per inch. The Pixel 9a is expected to boast a similar resolution (1080 x 2424 pixels), but due to the smaller size, the pixel density is higher at 421 PPI.

Both panels are LTPO and can dynamically change their refresh rate, going up to 120Hz. The brightness figure for the Galaxy S24 FE is 1,900 nits peak (we measured 1,110 nits at 100% APL, which is quite good). We don’t know how bright the Pixel 9a will be, but judging from the Pixel 9 series, expect some high numbers there as well.

Stay tuned for our thorough display tests where we measure color accuracy, minimum and maximum brightness, white balance, and more metrics for you number nerds out there.

Google has been working hard on its Tensor chipsets for the past couple of years, and even though there are substantial performance gains generation to generation, the latest Tensor (G4) is still not on par with its Snapdragon competitor, at least in raw power.

The situation is sort of similar with the Exynos chips. Samsung phased out using them in flagship phones, and the FE model is one of the few in this tier that still gets Exynos silicon. That said, the Exynos 2400e inside the Galaxy S24 FE turned out to be quite a potent chip, scoring close to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (2153 and 6631 in Geekbench 6 single and multicore tests, respectively).

We know that the Pixel 9a will come equipped with the same Tensor G4 as the regular Pixel 9 flagships, so we expect similar synthetic scores (1800 and 4573 in the same Geekbench 6 tests). Of course, we need to run the test on the Pixel 9a to get the actual score for that particular device, but we expect the Galaxy to have a tiny bit more oomph in synthetic benchmarks.

As far as RAM and storage are concerned, things are almost identical between these two. The Galaxy S24 FE starts at 8GB of RAM paired with 128GB of storage, and we expect the same memory configuration on the Pixel 9a.

The Galaxy S24 FE comes with its own pack of Galaxy AI features, some of which are quite useful while others feel a bit superficial. On the other hand, the Pixel 9a is expected to get most of the features from the regular Pixel 9 series, so it might have a slight advantage on the AI front, although people don’t seem to use AI as much as companies hoped.

The software support is the same on both phones; the Galaxy S24 FE offers seven years of major OS updates, and the Pixel 9a is expected to mimic that.

The Galaxy S24 FE has one inherent hardware advantage in the camera department, and it’s the dedicated telephoto camera. The main snapper uses a 50MP sensor under an f/1.8 lens and has a focal length equivalent of 24 mm. The ultrawide camera is a 12MP sensor under an f/2.2 lens and has a 123-degree field of view.The Pixel 9a, on the other hand, is still under wraps, but we expect a very similar setup, barring the telephoto camera. The main camera is expected to be a brand-new 48MP sensor with an f/1.7 lens on top and a 23 mm focal length equivalent. The ultrawide is rumored to be a 13MP sensor with the same f/2.2 aperture and a 120-degree field of view, very similar to what the Galaxy S24 FE sports.

We will populate this comparison with side-by-side samples because, as we all know rather well by now, processing algorithms do some serious lifting in smartphone photography, and hardware specs don’t always translate directly into real-life results. So stay tuned for some samples soon. What we can say now is that the 75 mm telephoto camera of the Galaxy S24 FE gives the phone a little more flexibility, especially when doing portrait photography.

The Galaxy S2 FE comes equipped with a rather small for the size of the phone 4,700 mAh battery, and this is reflected in our battery score. The phone ranks #69 for phones tested in the past two years, which is not a particularly impressive result. The charging situation is also nothing to write home about; the S24 FE supports up to 25W of wired charging power and 15W wireless. This translates to 1h 21m for a full charge.

The Pixel 9a is still under wraps, but we believe it will sport a pretty hefty 5,100 mAh battery (despite its smaller footprint). As always, more testing is needed to proclaim a winner in this department, but the Pixel 9a looks like the favorite at the moment.

This fight is far from over, and it’s shaping out to be a very interesting one. On the one hand, we have the Galaxy S24 FE with a more potent processor, an extra telephoto camera, and a big and vibrant screen.

On the other hand, the Pixel 9a is expected to start at the same $499 that made the last few generations so popular, and for that amount of money, you’re getting quite a lot. A bigger battery, Google’s AI expertise, and a more compact form factor.

Will the extra telephoto camera and the bigger screen be enough to sway people to spend $150 more? We have to wait and see. Stay tuned for benchmarks, image samples, battery tests, and of course, the final verdict.