Newsletter
The Google Pixel 6a is now official, and so are the official cases and screen protectors. Popular mobile accessories manufacturer ZAGG has unveiled the Pixel 6a Invisible Shield Glass Elite screen protector and the Gear4 Crystal Palace clear protective cover.
ZAGG claims the screen protector has an “anti-microbial treatment,” which protects the screen protector from the “growth of odor-causing bacteria.” As for the Pixel 6a protective cover, it can reportedly sustain drops of up to 13 ft (4m).
These accessories are now official and ZAGG’s website says they’ll be coming soon. As for pricing, the Crystal Palace case retails for $39.99 and the Glass Elite screen protector retails for $49.99.
Pixel 6a pre-orders go up on July 21
Although the Pixel 6a’s announcement was exciting for fans, they have a long wait ahead of them. The company will only begin U.S. pre-orders for the device on July 21 through its online store. Shipping will commence a week later, on July 28.
This puts the $449 Pixel 6a at a disadvantage, especially when competing with a device like the Apple iPhone SE, which starts from $429 and has been around for a few months now. However, the robust hardware and the promise of timely Android updates could sway many Android customers towards the Pixel 6a.
While the Pixel 6a’s arrival wasn’t quite the surprise that Google hoped it would be, the company did manage to surprise us with a few of the phone’s hardware features. For starters, despite being a mid-range handset, the Pixel 6a will feature the same chipset as the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, the 5nm Google tensor.
But that’s not to say there are no compromises. The device packs a smaller 4,410mAh battery with 18W wired charging, the same speed as the Pixel 5a 5G. It also offers 6GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage while retaining the Pixel 6’s under-display fingerprint scanner.
The rear panel includes a 12.2-megapixel primary camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide sensor. This is a downgrade from the standard Pixel 6, but not a dealbreaker considering the price tag. There’s an 8-megapixel front camera on the Pixel 6a as well. As you would expect, Android 12 runs by default here. Moreover, it should be high up on the list of Google’s devices getting Android 13 this fall.
