Motorola may have just killed the Google Pixel 9a

If you’re shopping for a budget/mid-tier Android phone in 2025, the Google Pixel 9a stands out as one of your best options. Google’s newest A-Series release packs a high-quality display, upgraded cameras, a significantly larger battery, and a (somewhat controversial) new design. Paired with the same Tensor chip inside the Pixel 9/Pixel 9 Pro and a boatload of AI features, there’s a lot to like for a phone that costs just $500.

However, it’s not your only choice for a lower-cost phone, and Motorola just added another contender to your shopping list: the $400 Moto G Stylus (2025). At first glance, it might be easy to dismiss the newest Moto G as just another budget Motorola phone. Motorola sure does release a lot of them, and its most recent model before this — the Moto G (2025) — didn’t impress us in the slightest.

But based on what we know of the Moto G Stylus (2025) — and having used the 2024 model before it — I think this latest handset is special. While we won’t know for sure until we review it, the new Moto G Stylus could be a Google Pixel 9a killer.

It started from the moment I took the Moto G Stylus out of the box. The vegan leather backside was soft, fingerprint-free, and incredibly comfortable. This year’s Moto G Stylus retains the same leather design while also vastly upgrading the Stylus’s durability — going from an IP52 rating on the 2024 model to IP68 for the 2025 version.

I was also really impressed with the 2024 Stylus’s display. The OLED panel with a 2400 x 1080 resolution looked great in daily use, and the new 2025 model ups the resolution to 2712 x 1220 — and more than doubles the peak brightness. Considering how happy I was with last year’s display, these are exciting upgrades to look forward to.

Battery life has always been a strong suit for Moto G phones, and like its predecessor, the 2025 Stylus touts a generous 5,000 mAh battery capacity. In my experience, last year’s phone was easily a two-day smartphone. Its 30W charge speeds left something to be desired, but as if Motorola read my mind (or my review), the upgrade to 68W charging on the Moto G Stylus (2025) more than alleviates that complaint.

Performance and cameras are two areas we haven’t touched on, but I’m expecting good things from both. The Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chip offered reliable day-to-day performance and good casual gaming support on the 2024 Stylus, and an upgrade to the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 for the 2025 Stylus should make things even better. Camera specs aren’t dramatically different between the two phones, but I got some pretty decent shots from last year’s Stylus, so I’m hopeful the 2025 model will deliver here, too.

Add all that together, and we’re looking at a pretty complete package. Good design? Check. Quality display? Yep. Long battery life and fast charging? Yes and yes. Solid performance and cameras? Almost certainly. All that for a price tag of just $400, and it doesn’t take long to see why I’m looking at the Moto G Stylus (2025) as a serious alternative to the $500 Pixel 9a.

Of course, that’s not to say the Moto G Stylus (2025) completely demolishes the Pixel 9a. There are a few areas where Google still has an undeniable lead, and they’re ones that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

First and foremost, there’s the matter of software updates. The Moto G Stylus is promised just two years of Android updates, whereas the Pixel 9a has a seven-year update guarantee. Updates aren’t the end-all-be-all for a phone, but two years just doesn’t cut it anymore. If you hold onto your phone for more than a couple of years at a time — like most people do — this is an important factor to consider.

Similarly, there’s something to be said of the software experience you’ll get on either phone. Motorola’s Android skin has been overwhelmed by ads and bloatware in recent years, and while it’s seemingly gotten better this year, it’s not completely gone. And beyond some basic tools like Circle to Search and a Sketch to Image feature, the Moto G Stylus doesn’t offer much in the way of clever AI tricks.

The Google Pixel 9a, by comparison, has one of the best software packages you’ll find on a phone in this price range. In addition to the seven years of updates, Google’s Pixel software is among the simplest and most bloat-free you can find. It’s also chock-full of excellent AI and other Pixel-exclusive features — including Now Playing song detection and Google’s unmatched calling tools.

Last but certainly not least, there are the cameras. On paper, the phones look really similar. The Pixel 9a has a 48MP primary camera + 13MP ultrawide combo, while the Moto G Stylus (2025) has a 50MP primary + 13MP ultrawide setup. However, Google has long had a significant advantage with its image processing and camera tuning, so it would be naive to think the Moto G Stylus (2025) will be on the same level as the Pixel 9a. I liked the 2024 Stylus’s cameras well enough, but they were pretty clearly behind the Pixel 8a, and I imagine we’ll be in for a similar outcome again this year.

Does the Moto G Stylus (2025) make the Pixel 9a irrelevant? Absolutely not. Google’s phone has very clear advantages over Motorola’s latest, and if you care a lot about updates, software/AI features, and cameras — not insignificant considerations — it’s easy to look at the Pixel 9a as the better choice of the two phones.

But if those things aren’t the ultimate deciding factors of your next purchase, the Moto G Stylus (2025) demands itself to be a serious consideration before you pull the trigger on your next smartphone. Even without fully reviewing the phone, it’s safe to assume the Stylus will best the Pixel in battery life, charge times, and display quality. You also get a lot more storage for your money (256GB vs. 128GB on the Pixel 9a) and can expand it with a microSD card — something the Pixel 9a doesn’t support. Performance and camera quality won’t be quite as good as the Pixel, but they shouldn’t be dramatically behind, either — and, hopefully, without the overheating concerns Google’s Tensor chips can’t seem to shake.

The Moto G Stylus (2025) doesn’t outshine the Pixel 9a in every category, but it does in some really important ones. And for the areas it doesn’t, it should be fairly close. That’s impressive enough on its own, but it’s all the more so when you remember that the Moto G Stylus costs $100 less than the Pixel 9a — and will likely be even more affordable thanks to Motorola’s rampant discounts soon after launch.

I’m eager to use both phones to see how each fares outside of spec sheets and in the real world. But for what I want out of a phone — and I imagine will be the case for others, too — the Moto G Stylus (2025) has killed at least some of my excitement for the Pixel 9a.