Google may be dooming the Pixel 10a to failure with this surprising decision

Early this year, we heard about the codenames of all the Pixel 10 devices, including the Pixel 10a. Part of that leak was information that Google hadn’t decided whether to use the Tensor G4 chipset powering the Pixel 9 series, or the brand-new Tensor G5 on the Pixel 10a. A new leak suggests that Google has now made a decision, which will certainly disappoint many Pixel fans.A Telegram post by Mystic Leaks has revealed part of the specs of a device with codename “stallion”, which we already know is the Pixel 10a. Those specs include a Tensor G4 chipset, a display with 2,000 nits brightness, and 128GB UFS 3.1 storage.

If that new leak is authentic, Google is planning to break from its traditional approach with its budget-friendly smartphones. Since the Pixel 6a, all of the company’s midrange devices have used the same Tensor chipset from the flagship series, though sometimes in a slightly slower version.

Google may also refrain from upgrading the Pixel 10a cameras. The latest leak says the device won’t have a telephoto camera, so it’s likely to have the same optics as the Pixel 9a.

Expected sometime in the spring of 2026, the Pixel 10a shapes up as one of the smallest updates in Google’s history. Considering that the Pixel 10 series continued the Pixel 9 design, it is unlikely that Google would change its midrange model. 

Google’s approach would also differ from Apple’s tactics with its own budget-friendly smartphone. The iPhone 16e features the company’s latest A18 chipset, though in a version with fewer GPU cores than the vanilla iPhone 16. While Samsung has a huge variety of phones outside the Galaxy S series, the company’s Galaxy S25 FE is rumored to feature the Exynos 2400 chipset. That would be closer to Google’s approach, as the main Galaxy S25 devices feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

I find this information baffling, and I hope it’s wrong. I would be pressed to think of a reason for anyone to buy a Pixel 10a if it has the same design, camera, and chipset as the Pixel 9a. Unless Google has some other major improvements in mind, the existence of a Pixel 10a with such specs just doesn’t make sense to me.