Following on from the announcement of Apple’s budget-friendly iPhone 16e, we’re interested to know how it compares to Google’s own affordable handset, the Pixel 8a.
While we’re yet to get our hands on the iPhone 16e, we have tested the Pixel 8a and gave the Android smartphone a 4.5-star rating.
So although we can’t claim whether the iPhone 16e is one of the best iPhones yet, we’ve compared its initial specs to the Google Pixel 8a and highlighted the key differences below. Keep reading to see how the two affordable phones compare in iPhone 16e vs Pixel 8a.
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Pricing and Availability
The recently announced iPhone 16e is available for pre-order and will launch officially on February 28. With a starting RRP of £599/$599, it’s currently the most budget-friendly iPhone that can be purchased directly from Apple.
Coming in at £100/$100 cheaper than the iPhone 16e, the Google Pixel 8a starts at just £499/$499 and makes it the most affordable handset from Google. In fact, we’ve got it listed as the best mid-range phone you can buy in our best smartphone guide.
A18 Bionic chip vs Google Tensor G3
One of the biggest differences between the iPhone 16e and Pixel 8a is with their respective processors and operating systems. While the iPhone 16e runs on Apple’s A18 chipset and iOS 18, the Pixel 8a uses the Google Tensor G3 chip and Android 14.
While the Tensor G3 chip is no longer the most up to date processor found in Google smartphones, as it’s been succeeded by the Tensor G4, it still offers smooth performance for both everyday use and when playing intensive gaming titles.
However, the focus of the Tensor G3 is not with power but with AI performance which enables the running of Google’s AI features, which we’ll get into next.
Although we haven’t reviewed the iPhone 16e yet, we have been impressed with the A18 chipset and found it seriously speedy and responsive in everyday use. Plus and perhaps most notably, the use of A18 means the iPhone 16e supports Apple Intelligence.
Apple Intelligence vs Google AI
Firstly, it’s worth noting that both handsets boast a plethora of generative AI tools although Google’s AI toolkit is arguably broader and more established than Apple Intelligence, considering the latter only launched towards the end of 2024.
Included with Apple Intelligence and the iPhone 16e are features such as Writing Tools which helps you refine your writing, an improved Siri which can understand natural language and ChatGPT integration.
Not only that but the iPhone 16e also has some useful photo editing features, including Clean Up which allows you to remove unwanted objects from the background of your images.
Similarly, the Pixel 8a also has numerous photo editing tools including Magic Editor to change the background of images as well as move and remove objects. There’s also Best Take which combines similar group shots into one where everyone looks their best.
Other than photo editing features, the Pixel 8a also has Circle to Search, Live Translate and access to Google’s voice assistant Gemini.
Pixel 8a has a dual rear camera setup
Considering we’ve consistently hailed Pixel phones as being some of the best camera phones available, the Pixel 8a had a lot to live up to. Luckily, thanks to its dual camera setup that’s made up of 64MP main and 13MP ultrawide lenses, we found that the Pixel 8a’s photography prowess to be solid and able to snap “excellent pictures with accurate skin tones and lovely colours” even in low light.
Perhaps surprisingly for a smartphone in 2025, the iPhone 16e has just one lens at its rear much like the outdated iPhone SE 2022. However, Apple explains that actually this lens is a two-in-one system made up of a 48MP Fusion camera and integrated 2x Telephoto. While Apple promises this will allow users to capture “gorgeous images that balance light and detail”, we are yet to try this out ourselves.
iPhone 16e has an IP68 rating
Budget friendly handsets can tend to lose a few useful features, with many sporting lower durability ratings to their more expensive alternatives, and this is exactly what we’ve seen with the Pixel 8a. While the other handsets in the Pixel 8 series all sport an IP68 rating, the 8a instead is rated as IP67, which means the phone isn’t quite as protected in water.
Fortunately, the iPhone 16e sticks with the same IP level as the rest of the series and boasts a solid IP68 rating.
Pixel 8a has a 120Hz refresh rate
A glaring omission from not only the iPhone 16e but also the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus is ProMotion technology, which is essentially Apple’s term for a 1-120Hz refresh rate. Instead, the iPhone 16e has a refresh rate of just 60Hz.
While the Pixel 8a doesn’t offer a 1-120Hz refresh rate, which helps conserve the battery life of a handset, it instead offers between 60-120Hz. Although a nice addition, we did find that often the handset feels slower than 120Hz and can also randomly hit 60Hz when scrolling.
Early Verdict
Arguably, the main deciding factor between the iPhone 16e and Pixel 8a may come down to whether you prefer an iOS or Android smartphone. Otherwise, both smartphones offer some premium features at an affordable price, including Generative AI tools, solid camera setups and speedy processors.
However, at this early stage it’s difficult to make a definitive decision between the iPhone 16e and Pixel 8a as we haven’t reviewed the former yet. We’ll be sure to update this versus once we review the iPhone 16e.
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