Pixel 9a vs Galaxy S24 FE: 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 bare-bones 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 recently released Google Pixel 9a.

Pre-order the Pixel 9a at Amazon

Google's latest mid-range option, the Pixel 9a, is here! You can pre-order your handset with advanced Gemini features at its standard price. This is the 128GB model. The unit will be released on May 1, according to Amazon.

Pre-order at Amazon

Galaxy S24 FE: Up to $549 off with trade-in

$100 ⁹⁹

$649 ⁹⁹

$549 off (84%)

The Galaxy S24 FE is up for grabs at the official Samsung Store. Currently, you can save up to $399 on the handset with eligible trade-ins. On top of that, you get $150 off before trade-ins, bringing your total discounts to $549.

Buy at Samsung

Galaxy S24 FE: Get at Amazon for 23% off

$150 off (23%)

The Galaxy S24 FE is also available at Amazon. The base storage configurations featuring 128GB of storage are $150 off at Amazon right now. The same goes for 256GB models.

Buy at Amazon

The Pixel 9a has grown in size, mainly due to its larger 6.3-inch screen (compared to the 6.1-inch display of the previous generation), and the 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, while the Pixel 9a uses composites (plastic) for its back and painted metal for its frame.

The design of the Pixel 9a is very similar to the new look that Google coined with the regular Pixel 9 series. The flat front and back are present, the curvature of the corners is similar, and the flat frame also reminds us of the Pixel 9. The camera on the back is completely flush with the body and comes in the form of a pill-shaped housing for the two cameras.

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. Both phones have more design similarities than differences, as in recent years Samsung, Apple, and Google have kind of uniformed the design of their phones.

Let's quickly list the available colors for both phones.

Google Pixel 9a available 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 similar (FHD+)—the Galaxy S24 FE's screen has 1080 x 2340 pixels, which at 6.7 inches results in around 385 pixels per inch. The Pixel 9a boasts a similar resolution (1080 x 2424 pixels), but due to the smaller size, the pixel density is higher at 422 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). Google cites 1800 nits in HBM (High Brightness Mode) for the Pixel 9a and 2700 nits peak, but we have to measure it to confirm or deny, as one agency used to say. Let's do it now!

Well, the Pixel 9a lived up to all the promises and delivered astonishing brightness figures. The phone managed almost 2000 nits at 100% APL (all the display lit), and north of 2500 nits at 20% APL. The Galaxy S24 FE is not a slouch with decent brightness but the clear winner here is the Pixel 9a. In terms of other metrics such as minimum brightness, color accuracy and temperature, both phones are closely matched.

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 comes 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). Let's check out the actual results below!

Unsurprisingly, the scores of the Tensor G4 are still nowhere near the Qualcomm silicon, and in this case Exynos as well. The Galaxy S24 FE wins in raw performance, both in the single, multicore, and graphics tests.

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 the same memory configuration can be found as base 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 features most of the AI magic 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 have 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 mimics that. The Pixel 9a will last a year longer, though, being the newer of these two, with support ending in 2032.

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, features a very similar setup, barring the telephoto camera. The main camera is a brand-new 48MP sensor with an f/1.7 lens on top and a 23 mm focal length equivalent. The ultrawide is 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.

PhoneArena Camera Score:

The camera tests in our lab paint a very interesting picture. The Galaxy S24 FE scores better in almost all categories barring the selfie one. Hence, the overall score is much better and close to the best in our database (158 currently). The Pixel 9a is hanging in there but loses heavily in the main camera category both in photo and video.

The Galaxy S24 FE was able to resolve more detail in its main camera samples (look a the clouds) compared to the Pixel 9a, and the dynamic range is also a bit wider on the Galaxy. The colors seem more vivid in the Galaxy samples, but that's something Samsung phones have been known for. The Pixel 9a produces more realistic images overall, albeit the quality goes in favor of the Galaxy S24 FE.

The same applies to the telephoto samples - the Pixel 9a lacks a dedicated telephoto lens and it shows. The zoom shots from the Galaxy S24 FE look much clearer and sharper with more resolved detail and better quality overall.

Here's a quick video comparison between the two phones.

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 boasts a pretty hefty 5,100 mAh battery (despite its smaller footprint). Time for some tests!

PhoneArena Battery and Charging Test Results:

Unsurprisingly, the bigger battery inside the Pixel, coupled with the efficient (and rather modest in raw performance) Tensor G4 got the win for the Pixel 9a here. There's a huge difference of almost two hours in our composite score, and most of this comes from the browsing score, but in all fairness, the Pixel 9a is better in all categories.

Here's a quick specs comparison table. You can also check out the full Galaxy S24 FE vs Pixel 9a comparison for more detail.

We've managed to stir up a good fight here. 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 starts 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.