The Pixel 9a Is Missing Google’s Latest Android 15 Feature Drop

It’s taken a little longer than expected, but starting today, the Pixel 9a is officially for sale. While tariff fluctuation means the price could change at any minute — 90 day “pause” or no — Google’s latest $500 phone is an exceptional deal right off the bat. Still, though, anyone choosing a budget phone over something more expensive is going to have to accept some trade-offs, and in the case of the Pixel 9a, those cuts come in the form of older software.

Earlier this week, while poking around in the settings menu on my Pixel 9a review unit, I noticed the new Modes options introduced as part of Android 15 QPR2 last month was missing. You can still pull up the Modes menu when searching settings, but it’s a completely blank page aside from a brief description. After reaching out to Google, I’ve confirmed this isn’t an error, but a decision made on the company’s part to launch the phone running on older software. Here’s Google’s statement in full:

“Pixel 9a will receive the Modes feature with the next Pixel Drop. This goes for any March QPR platform dependent features until the next quarterly release. Pixel 9a ships with the April MPR, which is based on the Android December QPR release. We decided that the Android December QPR build would be the most stable build to perform testing and ensure quality for carrier lab testing, and to receive the needed carrier approvals.”

The Pixel 9a isn’t technically running Google’s latest software

But it might not matter to you anyway

In other words, while the Pixel 9a does include April’s security patch out of the box, the base software is actually built on top of Android 15 QPR1, released last December. Largely speaking, I’m not sure if this feature list actually matters to most prospective Pixel 9a buyers — from a satellite SOS expansion to updates to Pixel Screenshots, a lot of the features shipped in March aren’t applicable to this particular smartphone.

But improvements like the new Modes menu are missing, and I think that’s bound to feel particularly frustrating to some users. Likewise, while I found the Connected Cameras menu active and ready to go in the Connected Devices menu, I couldn’t find a way to import old recordings into the Pixel Recorder app for auto-transcriptions. Bummer.

In a follow-up statement, Google confirmed to Android Police that the “next Pixel drop” is, in fact, Android 16. Unlike in previous years, Google has moved up its launch date for this year’s (first) upgrade, and thanks to an exclusive interview with Sameer Samat at MWC in March, we know the company has June in its sights. Two months is a long time to wait for updates that are actively available on other Pixels right now, so if having the latest and greatest software — no matter how small the differences — matters to you, you’ll want to swing for the Pixel 9 right now, not the cheaper 9a.