Pixel 9a misses out on a key hardware upgrade found in other Pixel 9 phones

Google has officially unveiled the Pixel 9a, the company's new budget-friendly smartphone with a $499 starting price tag. While it's powered by the same Tensor G4 that's inside the other devices in the series, the connectivity saw a major downgrade. To be specific, the new device has the Exynos Modem 5300 instead of the Modem 5400 found in the other smartphones in the lineup.

To recall, this is the same modem that was inside the Pixel 7 series, and that whole lineup suffered from poor cellular reception. This last-gen modem is also linked to the sub-par battery life and overheating of the Pixel 7 series. With the upgrade to the Exynos Modem 5400, Google has made good progress on both these aspects, and the other Pixel 9 phones (512 GB Pixel 9 Pro curr. $919 on Amazon) don't appear to have the same issues as their predecessors.

Of course, the improved battery life and cellular reception aren't the only upgrades that the Exynos Modem 5400 enjoys. It supports the 3GPP Release 17 standard, which brings satellite connectivity, and the peak downlink speeds are much higher than that of the predecessor.

Samsung also claims that the Exynos Modem 5400 delivers better stability and improved efficiency than the last-gen offering. Without these advantages, it's unclear how well the newly introduced Pixel 9a will fare when it comes to network performance, battery life, and thermal efficiency.

As for why Google may have opted to use a last-gen modem, it's likely to keep the launch price of the Pixel 9a the same as the 8a. To fill you in, the Exynos Modem 5400 utilizes Fan-out Panel Level Packaging (FOPLP), which is more efficient and thinner than the predecessor, and it's more costly as well.