Google Pixel 10a vs Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold | TechTalkTown
Google Pixel 10a vs Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold
Google Pixel 10a
Google
7.8
Great budget pick, lazy upgrade
Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold
Samsung
7.1
Engineering marvel, software footnote
Google Pixel 10a
What Reviewers Agree On
The fully flush camera module is the single most-celebrated change — the 10a lies dead flat on a table with no wobble, a rare and appreciated departure in 2026.
The 6.3-inch pOLED is brighter and tougher than the 9a's, hitting 3,000 nits peak with Gorilla Glass 7i replacing the ancient Gorilla Glass 3.
Battery life is reliably all-day on the 5,100 mAh cell, with multiple reviewers reporting two-day endurance on lighter use.
Google's image processing is still the best camera experience you can get for $500 — sharp detail, natural colors, class-leading Night Sight, fast shutter speeds.
Seven years of OS and security updates through 2033 remain industry-leading at this price point.
Pros & Cons
Google Pixel 10a
Pros
The fully flush camera module is the single most-celebrated change — the 10a lies dead flat on a table with no wobble, a rare and appreciated departure in 2026.
The 6.3-inch pOLED is brighter and tougher than the 9a's, hitting 3,000 nits peak with Gorilla Glass 7i replacing the ancient Gorilla Glass 3.
Battery life is reliably all-day on the 5,100 mAh cell, with multiple reviewers reporting two-day endurance on lighter use.
Google's image processing is still the best camera experience you can get for $500 — sharp detail, natural colors, class-leading Night Sight, fast shutter speeds.
Detailed Comparison
Design & Build
Google Pixel 10a
The marquee design change is the camera module — Google ground it down until the lenses sit completely flush with the back, so the phone lies dead flat on a table with no rock or wobble. Otherwise it is dimensionally and visually almost indistinguishable from the Pixel 9a: same 6.3-inch 153.9 × 73 × 9mm chassis, same aluminum frame, same plastic back, same IP68 rating. The new Berry color is the standout, with reviewers from The Verge to 9to5Google to Wired specifically calling it the one to buy.
The 10a's bezels are about 10 percent narrower than the 9a's, slimming the visual footprint without growing the body — Google fully eliminated the camera bump rather than miniaturizing it like last year.
The completely flush camera module is an underrated perk after years of ever-thickening camera bumps — the 10a doesn't rock on a table and neatly glides into a pocket.
The lavender colorway is genuinely beautiful in person — light refracts beautifully off the aluminum frame and composite back, and the matte finish feels secure in the hand.
The new Berry color is a callback to the red Nexus 5 — it catches the eye like nothing else on the market and is the color to buy.
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Faster 30W wired and 10W wireless charging is a welcome but modest bump over the 9a's 23W/7.5W.
The clean Android 16 build with Gemini integration, Material 3 Expressive, Hold for Me, Call Screen, Now Playing and Quick Share to AirDrop is genuinely useful — a key reason the 10a still stands out at $500.
Deal Breakers
No Pixelsnap magnets — the single most-criticized omission, called out by The Verge, Wired, Engadget, Ars Technica, 9to5Google, Gizmodo, Trusted Reviews and SuperSaf as the easy win Google declined to ship despite Apple bringing MagSafe to the iPhone 17e.
Same Tensor G4 chip from 2024 means no AI throughput improvements and breaks the A-series tradition of matching the current-year flagship's silicon — flagged by Ars Technica, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, BGR, and most YouTube reviewers as a value regression.
Capped at 8GB of RAM with 128GB base storage that will feel cramped during the seven-year update window, and the 10a misses the flagship-tier AI features (Magic Cue, Pixel Screenshots, Pixel Studio) that require Gemini Nano's larger memory footprint.
Multiple reviewers — Engadget, TechCrunch, Wired, Trusted Reviews — recommend the cheaper Pixel 9a if you can find it on sale, since it offers ~95% of the same experience for $100 less.
Still no telephoto lens or Wi-Fi 7, while same-price rivals like the Nothing Phone 4a Pro pack a dedicated zoom camera plus 50W charging.
Charging is functional but slow by 2026 standards — full charge takes ~98 minutes per Trusted Reviews testing, and Chinese rivals are pushing 100W in this bracket.
Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold
What Reviewers Agree On
The 10-inch 4:3 inner display fundamentally changes what a foldable can be — 16:9 video plays roughly 50–84% bigger than on the Z Fold 7, and apps actually reformat for tablet density instead of stretching.
At 3.9–4.2 mm per panel unfolded, the TriFold is the thinnest phone Samsung has ever shipped — the USB-C port is the same thickness as the entire chassis, which reviewers across the board call genuinely impressive engineering.
The dual Armor FlexHinge mechanism is solid, snappy, locks completely flat when fully open, and ships with a haptic-plus-vibration warning that yells at you when you try to fold the camera-side first.
Folded, the TriFold can pass for a chunky phone — 12.9 mm thick is only fractionally chunkier than a Z Fold 6 despite carrying a third more screen.
Battery life beats the Z Fold 7 in real-world testing — multiple reviewers landed at 7–9 hours of screen-on time, and a video loop pushed past 12 hours.
Samsung's U-shape design protects the inner screen completely when folded, unlike Huawei's Mate XT where one soft panel rides face-out and is exposed to keys and lint.
On-device Samsung DeX runs natively without needing an external display — it's the only Samsung phone that can do this, turning the trifold into a credible laptop-replacement experiment.
Deal Breakers
The 10-inch main display peaks at just 1,600 nits — lower than the three-year-old Galaxy Z Fold 5 and well below the 2,600 nits on the Fold 7, S25 Ultra, and the TriFold's own cover screen, and Snazzy Labs found sustained brightness drops further after 40 seconds outdoors.
JerryRigEverything's durability test failed the TriFold catastrophically — the right hinge snapped and pixels tore under a routine bend, and dust audibly grinds into the hinges almost immediately despite the IP48 rating; 9to5Google called it a 'horrific defeat.'
The inner flexible screen and its non-replaceable factory protector are soft enough to be gouged by a fingernail — Mrwhosetheboss left deep gouges just by leaning the phone against a vase, and the top-voted comment on 9to5Google's durability writeup called the soft screen 'an absolute dealbreaker.'
Unlike the Huawei Mate XT's accordion fold, the Z TriFold is all-or-nothing — you cannot use it half-unfolded as a 7.9-inch in-between size, so the trifold experience is either single-panel phone or full tablet with no middle ground.
The chip is the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, not the newer Elite Gen 5 already shipping in the S26 Ultra, so the most expensive phone Samsung sells is lagging behind a $1,300 Ultra from launch.
Seven years of OS and security updates through 2033 remain industry-leading at this price point.
Faster 30W wired and 10W wireless charging is a welcome but modest bump over the 9a's 23W/7.5W.
The clean Android 16 build with Gemini integration, Material 3 Expressive, Hold for Me, Call Screen, Now Playing and Quick Share to AirDrop is genuinely useful — a key reason the 10a still stands out at $500.
Cons
No Pixelsnap magnets — the single most-criticized omission, called out by The Verge, Wired, Engadget, Ars Technica, 9to5Google, Gizmodo, Trusted Reviews and SuperSaf as the easy win Google declined to ship despite Apple bringing MagSafe to the iPhone 17e.
Same Tensor G4 chip from 2024 means no AI throughput improvements and breaks the A-series tradition of matching the current-year flagship's silicon — flagged by Ars Technica, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, BGR, and most YouTube reviewers as a value regression.
Capped at 8GB of RAM with 128GB base storage that will feel cramped during the seven-year update window, and the 10a misses the flagship-tier AI features (Magic Cue, Pixel Screenshots, Pixel Studio) that require Gemini Nano's larger memory footprint.
Multiple reviewers — Engadget, TechCrunch, Wired, Trusted Reviews — recommend the cheaper Pixel 9a if you can find it on sale, since it offers ~95% of the same experience for $100 less.
Still no telephoto lens or Wi-Fi 7, while same-price rivals like the Nothing Phone 4a Pro pack a dedicated zoom camera plus 50W charging.
Charging is functional but slow by 2026 standards — full charge takes ~98 minutes per Trusted Reviews testing, and Chinese rivals are pushing 100W in this bracket.
Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold
Pros
The 10-inch 4:3 inner display fundamentally changes what a foldable can be — 16:9 video plays roughly 50–84% bigger than on the Z Fold 7, and apps actually reformat for tablet density instead of stretching.
At 3.9–4.2 mm per panel unfolded, the TriFold is the thinnest phone Samsung has ever shipped — the USB-C port is the same thickness as the entire chassis, which reviewers across the board call genuinely impressive engineering.
The dual Armor FlexHinge mechanism is solid, snappy, locks completely flat when fully open, and ships with a haptic-plus-vibration warning that yells at you when you try to fold the camera-side first.
Folded, the TriFold can pass for a chunky phone — 12.9 mm thick is only fractionally chunkier than a Z Fold 6 despite carrying a third more screen.
Battery life beats the Z Fold 7 in real-world testing — multiple reviewers landed at 7–9 hours of screen-on time, and a video loop pushed past 12 hours.
Samsung's U-shape design protects the inner screen completely when folded, unlike Huawei's Mate XT where one soft panel rides face-out and is exposed to keys and lint.
On-device Samsung DeX runs natively without needing an external display — it's the only Samsung phone that can do this, turning the trifold into a credible laptop-replacement experiment.
Cons
The 10-inch main display peaks at just 1,600 nits — lower than the three-year-old Galaxy Z Fold 5 and well below the 2,600 nits on the Fold 7, S25 Ultra, and the TriFold's own cover screen, and Snazzy Labs found sustained brightness drops further after 40 seconds outdoors.
JerryRigEverything's durability test failed the TriFold catastrophically — the right hinge snapped and pixels tore under a routine bend, and dust audibly grinds into the hinges almost immediately despite the IP48 rating; 9to5Google called it a 'horrific defeat.'
The inner flexible screen and its non-replaceable factory protector are soft enough to be gouged by a fingernail — Mrwhosetheboss left deep gouges just by leaning the phone against a vase, and the top-voted comment on 9to5Google's durability writeup called the soft screen 'an absolute dealbreaker.'
Unlike the Huawei Mate XT's accordion fold, the Z TriFold is all-or-nothing — you cannot use it half-unfolded as a 7.9-inch in-between size, so the trifold experience is either single-panel phone or full tablet with no middle ground.
Glance at the Pixel 10a and you'd really struggle to tell the difference from last year's Pixel 9a — the design is near-identical apart from a sliver of extra thickness at 9mm.
On the outside, you literally cannot tell the difference versus last year's Pixel 9a — same dimensions, same shape, super safe, super generic, super flat.
The fully flush camera module is reminiscent of smartphones from over a decade ago, and in a stagnant market this kind of nostalgia play goes a long way toward feeling refreshing.
After dropping the previous one, the Pixel 10a's more rounded corners feel significantly better against the palm than the older 7a — a welcome ergonomic change.
If you have the 9a, you really don't need the 10a — the camera module being flat is essentially the only meaningful visual change.
Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold
Two hinges, three panels, and the thinnest chassis Samsung has ever shipped — 3.9 mm at its thinnest point and 12.9 mm folded, with each panel a fractionally different thickness so they nest cleanly. Reviewers near-universally call the engineering exquisite, but the trade-offs are real: 309 g on the official spec sheet (closer to 320 g in practice once you add a case and a SIM), a fiber-reinforced polymer back that picks up fingerprints, and a USB-C port the same thickness as the chassis itself.
Folded thickness is 12.9 mm — just a smidge chunkier than the Galaxy Z Fold 6 (12.1 mm) despite carrying a 50% larger main display.
At 3.9 mm at its thinnest point the TriFold is the thinnest phone Samsung has ever made — thinner than even the Fold 7 and 1.5 mm thinner than the iPhone Air's thinnest point.
The USB-C port is the same thickness as the entire device — go any thinner and the phone has to go portless.
It is very, very heavy for a phone — 309 g on Samsung's spec sheet, and a real-world unit measured 320 g with a SIM installed and no case.
The fiber-reinforced polymer back is slightly sticky, very shiny, and persistently picks up fingerprints across all six faces of the device.
Samsung's left and right segments fold inward behind a separate cover screen — Huawei's Mate XT folds in a Z-shape using part of the main screen as the cover.
The right panel is fractionally longer than the others — that protrusion is intentional, giving you a lip to grab when unfolding without digging fingernails into the screen.
The included aramid-fiber case only covers one of three panels when unfolded, and there is no kickstand — Samsung sold a kickstand case in some regions but never in the US.
Performance
Google Pixel 10a
Google broke A-series tradition by reusing the Tensor G4 from 2024 instead of pairing the 10a with the current flagship Tensor G5. Real-world performance is fine — Pixel UI is fluid, animations are smooth, light gaming works — but benchmarks confirm what reviewers expected: the 10a is closer to a mid-range chip than a flagship. The 8GB of RAM cap is the bigger long-term concern for a phone that will get updates through 2033.
Same Tensor G4 chipset as the Pixel 9a, same 8GB of RAM — there are essentially no performance gains this year, which you might notice when switching between many apps.
The Tensor G4 isn't bad at all for a $500 phone — Pixel animations are smooth, apps open quickly, and the move to an Exynos 5400 modem brings Satellite SOS plus better thermal behavior.
Even with average gaming sessions like Diablo Immortal at high settings and 60fps, the phone stayed cool to the touch for an hour straight — thermal management is solid.
Trusted Reviews measured 4,551 Geekbench 6 multi-core, 1,753 single-core, and 2,608 in 3DMark Wild Life with a 91% stress-test stability — solid mid-range numbers for a flagship-tier chipset from a year ago.
The 10a's 1700–1750 single-core Geekbench score lags the Pixel 10's 2,300+ by a meaningful margin, and multi-core drops to ~4,500 vs ~6,000 — measurable, but rarely felt during everyday browsing.
It's just the chip. Like Tensor G5 is Google's latest, and the A-series traditionally got the flagship chip — this year they're not even doing that, so the 10a feels like a software-defined product more than ever.
The Tensor G4 paired with 8GB of RAM means the 10a can't run the updated Gemini Nano model — missing on-device AI features include Magic Cue, Pixel Screenshots, call notes, notification summaries, and on-device call translation.
8GB of RAM might be skimpy seven years from now, but right now Pixel keeps apps in memory well enough — and the 10a runs fewer AI models in the background than the flagship Pixels.
Genshin Impact at 60fps fell to 24–30 fps with quick heat buildup — the 10a isn't aimed at gamers, but for casual or battle-royale sessions at moderate settings it holds its own.
Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold
The TriFold ships with the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy and 16 GB of RAM — fast, but already a generation behind the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in the S26 Ultra. With no vapor chamber and a ~4 mm-thick chassis the thermal headroom is limited, so the trifold actually runs slower than other 8 Elite phones under sustained load. Most reviewers report smooth real-world performance, including high-refresh gaming on the inner display, but flag thermal hot spots on the back during intense sessions.
It runs the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy with 16 GB of RAM and up to 1 TB of storage — top-shelf, but it's the last-gen 8 Elite, not the newer Gen 5.
Due to thermal constraints the TriFold ran slower than other 8 Elite phones like the S25 Ultra — a chassis this thin has very limited room for any dedicated cooling.
Both foldables don't have the S25 Ultra's peak speed but don't throttle that hard either — they're so thin they may not even need a vapor chamber.
For intense gaming there is a pretty hot hot spot on the back of both foldables — the thinness means heat has nowhere to go.
Gaming at 120 Hz on the inner display is a spectacular experience — Arknights Endfield and similar 3D-heavy games look absolutely amazing.
Camera
Google Pixel 10a
The 48MP f/1.7 main with OIS, 13MP f/2.2 ultrawide and 13MP selfie carry over byte-for-byte from the Pixel 9a — no new hardware. What is new is Camera Coach and Auto Best Take, both pulled from the Pixel 10 series, and the absence of a telephoto lens that the Galaxy S25 FE and Nothing 4a Pro both ship at this price. Critics agree this is still the best $500 camera experience on Android thanks to Google's image processing, though shooting beyond 2x or in low light reveals the small sensor's limits.
Photos are pleasingly exposed with sharp details and natural colors — overall it's a very respectable system for the money, even if a 2x or 3x optical zoom lens would be welcome on a future A-series.
No other $500 phone offers a comparable camera experience — Google's image processing brings out detail in bright and dim areas, and Night Sight is great for situations where rivals fall apart.
Camera Coach is too slow because it relies on a cloud model — by the time the AI responds, the cat has walked away, so its utility is limited to static scenes.
Auto Best Take works as advertised — Google merges multiple group photos so everyone looks their best, finally solving the problem of no single frame having everyone smiling.
The main 48MP impresses despite the small 1/2.0-inch sensor — sharp focus, natural colors, and some of the best skin tones of any phone on the market.
Camera Coach impedes the flow of taking a photo — I have little reason to use it, but Google's conversational photo editor in Photos is genuinely useful.
Without a telephoto lens you're limited to 8x super-res zoom, and things get blurry beyond 3–4x — Google's processing cleans up a 2x crop well enough but starts to look artificial.
The 10a continues Pixel's longstanding fear of saturated colors and deep shadows — the camera feels stuck where it was in 2021 or 2022, and I miss the bigger generational leaps from earlier Pixels.
The 13MP ultrawide sensor is smaller and tends to lose details, and it lacks autofocus — fine for casual use but a step behind the main camera in low light.
Side-by-side, the Pixel 10a's photos look slightly crisper and more vibrant than older Pixels — clearly an improvement, even if it's mostly the same hardware on paper.
The cameras are identical to the Pixel 10 except for the missing 5x telephoto — same main, same ultrawide, same processing, same Camera Coach. The only real ceiling is zoom flexibility.
Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold
The TriFold's cameras are lifted directly from the Z Fold 7 — 200MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x telephoto, plus 10MP selfie cameras on the cover and inner displays. Reviewers agree the system is competent but underwhelming on a $2,900 phone, particularly compared to the S25 Ultra's 50MP 5x telephoto and high-res ultrawide. Foldable-specific tricks include letting subjects see themselves on the cover screen and using rear cameras for higher-quality selfies.
The camera lineup is identical to the Z Fold 7 — a 200MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP 3x telephoto and two 10MP selfies — and the module protrudes meaningfully from the back.
The cameras are fine, but it sure feels like they could be better at this price — a decent 200MP main, middling 3x telephoto and ultrawide.
Compared to the S25 Ultra you're losing the high-res 5x telephoto and the high-res ultrawide — for $2,900 the TriFold should have at least the better ultrawide.
Selfie cameras max out at 10 MP and f/2.2 on both screens — not what buyers expect from one of the most expensive phones money can buy, and Samsung should bump resolution and sensor size next time.
Battery & Charging
Google Pixel 10a
The 5,100 mAh cell is identical to the 9a's — Engadget measured 28 hours in their video rundown (matching last year), and most reviewers report comfortable all-day life with two-day endurance on lighter use. Charging is the bigger story: wired jumps from 23W to 30W (~50% in 30 minutes, full in ~98 minutes), and wireless from 7.5W to 10W. The non-negotiable disappointment is the lack of Pixelsnap magnets — every single reviewer flags it.
The 10a ran 28 hours in Engadget's video rundown test — exactly where the Pixel 9a landed last year, putting it middle of the pack for 2026 flagships.
After a heavy workday — off charger at 8am, messaging, snaps, scrolling, evening event — the 10a still had 26% left by midnight. Two-day life is achievable on lighter use.
Battery life has been OK — the 10a lasts a full day with average use but still requires daily charging, and heavier travel use pushes me to top up in the afternoon.
The 10a actually outperformed my personal Pixel 10 on raw battery life — and on lighter days I squeezed two full days of use out of a single charge.
Wired charging hits 30W and delivers ~50% in 30 minutes as advertised, with a full charge in about 98 minutes — serviceable but not class-leading.
No Pixelsnap magnets is the biggest letdown — Google should have brought Qi2 wireless charging to the A-series the way Apple brought MagSafe to the iPhone 17e.
The lack of Pixelsnap is the biggest let down here by far — Google should have found a way to get it on the 10a, and a third-party magnetic case ruins one of the best aspects of this phone's design.
There are no Pixelsnap magnets inside the 10a, which feels arbitrary — almost as if Google is gating the feature to make the $800 Pixel 10 look like a better upgrade.
Adding Pixelsnap magnets across the entire Pixel 10 lineup would have been a clean win and a great moment for Google — instead the A-series gets left out yet again.
Wireless charging up to 10W from 7.5W is a real bump — but without Pixelsnap, I can't imagine throwing this thing on a wireless charger very often.
Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold
Samsung split a 5,600 mAh cell into three packs, one per panel, to fit the chassis — that is 27% more capacity than the Z Fold 7 to power 50% more screen, but the lower 1,584×2,160 resolution helps offset the draw. Real-world numbers land between 7 and 9 hours of screen-on time, with a 12h 53m video-loop result in the most exhaustive drain test. Charging is 45 W wired (matching the S25 Ultra) and 15 W wireless — both faster than the Fold 7's, but slower than Huawei's 66 W wired on the Mate XT.
The triple-cell battery system comes out to 5,600 mAh — only a bit larger than batteries in phones with one small screen, so you may not get much use per charge with the TriFold fully unfurled and running multiple apps.
First-battery testing returned nearly 7 hours of screen-on time, including roughly 3.5 hours of YouTube on the inner display and almost 2 hours of gaming at max brightness.
With mixed use, multitasking and video playback, the TriFold averaged about 8 to 9 hours of screen-on time — the Z Fold 7 by comparison lasts around 6 to 7 hours on a charge.
In a looped-video drain test the TriFold lasted 12 hours and 53 minutes — about two hours less than a Z Fold 7 doing the same task, the extra screen real estate eating into the larger battery.
Samsung discontinued the Galaxy Z TriFold roughly three months after launch in both Korea and the US — Reddit's r/gadgets and r/Android megathreads both noted the device 'lasted roughly 6–7 Concords' and was 'always going to happen' at this price point.
At $2,900 it costs more than a flagship phone plus a flagship tablet combined — every publication review explicitly says you can buy an S25 Ultra and an iPad and an accessory loadout for less.
The chip is the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, not the newer Elite Gen 5 already shipping in the S26 Ultra, so the most expensive phone Samsung sells is lagging behind a $1,300 Ultra from launch.
Samsung discontinued the Galaxy Z TriFold roughly three months after launch in both Korea and the US — Reddit's r/gadgets and r/Android megathreads both noted the device 'lasted roughly 6–7 Concords' and was 'always going to happen' at this price point.
At $2,900 it costs more than a flagship phone plus a flagship tablet combined — every publication review explicitly says you can buy an S25 Ultra and an iPad and an accessory loadout for less.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy in the TriFold dominates the Kirin 9010 in Huawei's Mate XT on raw performance and benefits from 5G and modern Wi-Fi the Mate XT lacks.
You can switch the camera preview to the outer screen and shoot rear-camera selfies fully unfolded — but you're going to look like a doofus if you do.
Photos from the 200MP main are punchy, and the ultrawide has autofocus — a versatile setup, but not a meaningful step up over the Z Fold 7.
45 W wired charging finally matches the S25 Ultra and is a massive bump over the Z Fold 7 — 20 minutes nets ~46% and 30 minutes ~65%.
Samsung still trails Huawei on speed — the Mate XT charges at 66 W wired and 50 W wireless versus Samsung's 45 W and 15 W on the same nominal 5,600 mAh capacity.
If the TriFold had silicon-carbon battery tech like the Honor Magic 8 Pro's 7,100 mAh cell, the phone could be lighter, longer-lasting, or both.
