Google has followed up an ocean's worth of leaks with the official announcement of its Pixel 9a smartphone, which will retail for $499. Possibly the biggest change to the new A-series model is in its appearance,

Another Pixel 9 feature, Pixel Studio, also appears on the Pixel 9a. This is Google's image creation tool, where you can use text prompts to create an illustration. A recent Pixel feature drop added the ability to create images featuring people, and that's supported on the Pixel 9a as well.

It even outperforms the flagship Google Pixel 9 in some areas, like battery life, despite costing $300 less. If you're looking for a new midrange or budget phone, the Pixel 9a cou