
Great

Apple
Good
Google Pixel 9a
A controversial redesign ditching the Pixel camera visor for a flat, minimal look with plastic back and IP68 water resistance.
iPhone 17 Air
At 5.5mm thick, the iPhone 17 Air redefines what a smartphone can look like. The all-aluminum construction is both a design statement and a compromise enabler.
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Google Pixel 9a
Bright 6.3-inch pOLED panel with 120Hz and 2,700 nits peak brightness, marred by thick bezels.
iPhone 17 Air
The 6.6-inch OLED display with ProMotion 120Hz is excellent, though peak brightness does not match the Pro models.
Google Pixel 9a
The 48MP main camera delivers flagship-adjacent quality with excellent computational photography, though the ultrawide struggles in low light.
iPhone 17 Air
A single 48MP main camera delivers good photos but severely limits versatility compared to the dual and triple camera systems on other iPhone 17 models.
Google Pixel 9a
Tensor G4 delivers near-flagship performance with improved thermals, though 8GB RAM limits some AI features.
iPhone 17 Air
The A19 (non-Pro) chip handles daily tasks effortlessly but lacks the GPU horsepower and Neural Engine cores of the Pro variant.
Google Pixel 9a
The 5,100mAh battery delivers the best battery life of any Pixel, but charging is painfully slow.
iPhone 17 Air
Battery life is the iPhone 17 Air's Achilles heel — the thin chassis leaves little room for a large cell, and it shows in endurance tests.
Google Pixel 9a
Clean Android 15 with seven years of updates and most Pixel-exclusive AI features, limited only by RAM.
iPhone 17 Air
Full iOS 26 with Apple Intelligence, though some on-device AI tasks process slightly slower than on Pro models.