Base models are based

Cheaper iPhones and Pixels are here and they’re pretty good

- BRIAN X. CHEN

With all the talk about tariffs driving up costs, the word “cheaper” should bring comfort to just about anyone.

That's why I’m delighted to share that the cheaper smartphone from Google has arrived, a few months after Apple released a somewhat cheaper entry-level iPhone — and that both products are very good.

Google this week released the Pixel 9a, the sibling of its flagship smart-phone, the Pixel 9. It competes directly with the iPhone 16e released in Feb-ruary, the cheaper version of Apple's iPhone 16.

Both of the new phones have the staples that people care most about — great cameras, nice screens, zippy speeds, modern software and long battery life. To cut costs, they omit some fancier extras, like advanced camera features.

Is it a wise idea to save some bucks, or better to spend more on the fancier phones? To find out, I strapped on a fanny pack and carried all four phones with me for the last week to run tests.

The upshot: As is often the case, you get what you pay for. The flagship phones are slightly better in terms of features and performance than the cheaper versions, and the 16e iPhone is faster and has a better camera than the 9a Pixel.

But more important, the cheaper Pixel and iPhone were nearly indis-tinguishable from their top-end coun-terparts in several of my tests. In some cases, like battery life, the cheaper phones were even better.

The future of phone prices remains uncertain, but costs will probably go up. Last Wednesday, when US President Donald Trump announced a pause on most “reciprocal” tariffs, he raised tariffs on China, where many phones are manufactured. So plenty of us may soon be motivated to compromise and consider less expensive alternatives.