Обзор Here’s why the Pixel 9a is missing some of the Pixel 9’s best AI features

[Обзор]

• Google’s new Pixel 9a runs the same Tensor G4 processor as the main Pixel 9 series and also offers on-device Gemini.
• Because of the Pixel 9a’s 8GB RAM limitation, Google had to use its Gemini Nano 1.0 XXS (extra extra small) model.
• This imposes some usage limitations, and could also slow down Gemini access.

Modern AI models are getting more capable every day, and that we’re able to run some of them on hardware as portable as our phones feels like a small miracle. Their power comes at a cost, through, and that frequently means some hefty memory demands — that’s exactly why Google’s push to transition everyone from Assistant to Gemini will only spare users whose phones have the very least RAM. Today Google announced its latest affordable flagship, the Pixel 9a, and it turns out even this handset is making some sacrifices when it comes to AI and memory constraints.

Just like the mainline Pixel 9 series, the Pixel 9a runs Google’s own Tensor G4 chip. But while the Pixel 9 is equipped with 12GB of RAM, and the Pixel 9 Pro pushes that even higher to 16GB, the Pixel 9a is limited to just 8GB. And while that’s the same as we got with the Pixel 8a, Google’s growing focus on Gemini means that old practices just aren’t going to cut it moving forward.