Who needs a Pixel 7a? The Pixel 6a just got a permanent price drop to $349

On the day of the Pixel 7a launch, Google has given the Pixel 6a a permanent price drop to $349. That’s $100 less than the original retail price of the phone and means that it is now $150 cheaper than its successor.

This is obviously a good thing for buyers, although this pricing is not unprecedented. The Pixel 6a launched just a few months before the Pixel 7 last year, and since the new flagship came along, the Pixel 6a has at times been seen on offer for as low as $299 on Amazon.

But this is the first permanent price drop on the phone, and the other thing that’s new is that Google has always previously discontinued the last Pixel A series to make way for the next one, sometimes even shelving it before the latest Pixel A is released. The popularity of the Pixel 6a may have encouraged the manufacturer to rethink this policy.

Credit to Google for this move, but it presents prospective new Pixel 7a buyers with a dilemma. The Pixel 7a is certainly an upgrade on the Pixel 6a in several ways; it has a higher refresh rate, more RAM, improved cameras, and the Tensor G2 chipset. But it’s evolution rather than revolution. Will this Pixel 6a price drop entice budget-conscious buyers to forgo the Pixel 7a for its older but still-excellent counterpart?

When you add the fact that the Pixel 7a price hike to $499 makes it only $100 less than the Pixel 7, the Pixel 7a has serious value competition just within its own ecosystem.

We’re not complaining about a $100 price reduction on a solid mid-range device, and we doubt Google is either. Whichever Pixel you buy, you’ll be getting a good phone and adding to the OEM’s bottom line. Check out our Pixel 7a review for our full verdict.