Battle of the Budgets: Pixel 9a vs Galaxy S24 FE vs iPhone 16e performance tested

If you want flagship features without the price tag, there’s a good selection of options on the market right now. Google’s new Pixel 9a joins the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE and Apple iPhone 16e as great middle-of-the-market picks for the budget-conscious. In fact, the 9a is the cheapest of the three at just $499 rather than $659 and $599, respectively, yet it continues to sport a dual camera configuration and flagship-tier Tensor G4 processor. Can it really be that good of a deal?

If you’ve been wondering which of these three phones nails the smartphone fundamentals the best, then you’ve come to the right place. I’ve run each through our benchmarking suite to see which will best handle daily workloads, heavier use cases, and intensive gaming sessions. Check out the table before for a quick overview of how these phones stack up in terms of processing components.