I’m already on record as saying that the Pixel 4a might be better value for money (if and when it launches next year) than the Pixel 4. But for people who are unsure about buying the Pixel 4 – and with good reason – what can the budget 4a device do to entice them?

Solving the Pixel 4’s battery life will be first on the list of important fixes for Google’s design team when it’s planning the 4a. The price, too, will obviously be a lot lower than the flagship Pixel 4 range. These two features are a given. The question is: what else can Google do to make the 4a a more attractive purchase?

Best Buds

Google is launching its second attempt at wireless headphones next year and I’m interested to see how it has improved on the failed first generation Pixel Buds. We all know the story: despite their early promise, the Pixel Buds were buggy, poorly designed and had – at best – middling audio playback quality

The press and reviews after launch were not good. I suspect a portion of that negativity was because the Pixel Buds started on a high with a futuristic language-translation demo, but when they officially landed the headphones did not live up to the early promise. It was an issue of expectation versus reality.

The bad taste of Google’s first foray into headphones may have stuck with consumers. The search company will have to find a new way to get them to part with cash again – bundling the Pixel Buds 2 with the 4a might be the way to do that

There’s no question that the Pixel 4 misses that additional field of view. The Pixel 4a should rectify that. Again, it may be unlikely that Google would introduce a significant camera upgrade mid-way through a launch cycle in a budget device. But the A range is new and still finding its feet. Also, Google made a big deal about the same camera appearing in the Pixel 3a as the Pixel 3 – so there’s clearly an appetite for giving the budget line the best camera hardware available. 

I’m not sure what Google’s long-term plan is for its budget range, but intentionally or not, it turned out to be arguably better value than last year’s flagship phone. The Pixel 3a helped double Pixel sales figures last year (Google hasn’t released the exact breakdown of sales), which is significant considering it struggled to sell Pixel 3 handsets.