The Google Pixel 9a looks like one of the better mid-range phones of the year. It’s powered by a Tensor G4 chip which is mostly identical to the Pixel 9 series, but uses an older modem instead of the Pixel 9’s new Exynos Modem 5400.
We covered this news a few days ago and asked readers whether they cared about this change. Over 4,400 votes were tallied, and here’s what you told us.
Do you care that the Pixel 9a has an old modem?
It turns out that almost 40% of surveyed readers (39.75%) said they do care that the Pixel 9a has an older modem, but that they’ll wait for reviews and testing first. Meanwhile, 36.61% of respondents said this was a dealbreaker for them. In other words, just over 75% of polled readers are concerned by the Pixel 9a’s choice of modem in the first place.
The Pixel 9a’s Exynos Modem 5300 was also found in the Pixel 6 series, Pixel 7 range, and Pixel 8 family, including all the A-series phones. Unfortunately, cellular connectivity could vary wildly among these phones. Some Pixel 6 series owners (including a couple of Android Authority members) reported serious cellular issues. These problems included poor reception in places where other phones worked fine, lengthy delays in switching between cellular and Wi-Fi connections, overheating and poor battery life on cellular connections, and more. Phones like the Pixel 7 and Pixel 8 series delivered significant improvements in this regard, but we can certainly understand why people are worried.
Reader Akash Yadav detailed his ordeal with the Pixel 8 Pro:
It is a major downgrade. I’ve a Pixel 8 Pro (sic), while it functions normally in city except for the high battery drain in 5G. But on highway it often loses connectivity and goes offline on same carrier when phones with Qualcomm and Mediatek modems are able to get signals easily. Also when it loses connectivity, it is very rarely gets it back. You need to restart it, put it on offline mode repeatedly and sometimes even that doesn’t help. I’ve so many times lost live map directions due to this, which why I’ve moved my primary SIM to a cheaper Iqoo 13 and keep Pixel with me to click photos.
Fellow reader Dominykas Samsonas noted that Google recently fixed connectivity issues he had with his Pixel:
I have the (Exynos Modem) 5300 in my Pixel 8 Pro that I had since launch and I can say that middle of last year Google with software updates really fixed a lot issues with it (sic). Since Google had years of work done on the 5300 I do not see this as a deal breaker for the midrange phone.
Meanwhile, just under 25% of respondents said they don’t care about the Pixel 9a’s older modem. We’re guessing these people didn’t have issues with previous Pixels.
A couple of commenters revealed that they were using their older Tensor-powered Pixel phones just fine, including Ryan Campbell:
I’ve had the Pixel 6a for about 2.5 years now. I’ve never had any issues with connectivity (depending on the carrier), overheating, or battery drain. I end most days with around 30-40% of my battery left after a 15-16 hour day. My wife has the 7a, and she’s always had good reception as well. I’m not sure I’m too concerned with the modem if the performance will be similar to that of my 6a.
In other words, it sounds like some readers could be perfectly happy with the Pixel 9a’s cellular performance, especially if they didn’t have issues with the older phones to start with. But it’s abundantly clear that most polled readers have some concerns at the very least.
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