I had an idea of what to expect going into my Google Pixel 9a hands-on in Mountain View, but its new "personality" still took me by surprise in person. It's the first hard-edged, no-camera-bar Pixel I've ever seen, with the 2019 Pixel 4 as the closest Google-made lookalike I could find. And it takes some getting used to.
We've seen more and more Android phones take the flat-edged, machine-cut route in recent years, from the Pixel 9 Pro and OnePlus 13R to the Galaxy S25. The Pixel 9a sharing that style is no surprise, but it comes in tandem with a flattened camera sensor that makes the whole package look very minimalist.
