Google has officially given a release date for their delayed Pixel 9a device and it’s coming very soon.
The tech giant made the decision to push back the release back in mid-March, shortly before its initial expected release, due to an unspecified component issue.
It now seems that they have been able to sort out the technical flaw and have given a very soon 10th April release date in the UK, US and Canada.
As for other markets, elsewhere in Europe will get the phone on 14th April, while countries such as Australia, India and Singapore will receive it on 16th April.
Reason for delay
The idea of a delay to the 9a’s release didn’t look good for Google, with many outlets expecting not to see the device until the end of April.
The fact they have been able to identify and resolve the issue so quickly and plaster a sooner release date is hopefully a sign that it wasn’t a major issue and that they are confident the device will have no problems.
In a statement made from Google about the issue, they said “A passive component in Pixel 9a didn’t meet our rigorous quality standards for device longevity and rather than ship it, we made the difficult decision to delay the on shelf and take corrective action on the small number of affected units.”
A ‘passive component’ is defined as a component that receives power but does not generate or control it, essentially managing the flow of energy in the device, such as capacitors or resistors.
It is a good sign for the Pixel 9a that the issue was with a component of this level and not a major one. Coupled with the fact that apparently only a small number of devices experienced the problem, the whole ‘ordeal’, if it can even be called as such, shouldn’t be of any concern to potential customers.
Pixel 9a limitations
The Pixel 9a has had a lot of leaks leading up to its release and while there is still much to learn about it, what is already ‘known’ does show some multiple scaled-back features.
For starters, it will only have 8GB of RAM as opposed to 12GB found on the rest of the Pixel 9 series. This, as Google has confirmed, will have an adverse impact on its AI features.
For example, while Gemini will still be found on the device, the on-device Gemini Nano 1.0 XXS AI model, which is a downgrade from the Gemini Nano 1.0 XS found on other Pixel devices, won’t run in the background, making it feel less snappy. It is also text-only.
Other handy AI features that won’t feature are Call Notes, which presents phone conversation summaries, the Pixel Screenshots app, and supposedly Google’s new scam detection feature.
