Google’s Pixel 9a doesn’t just look like a strong successor over last year’s model, it also appears to be the best phone that won’t break the bank.

This certainly explains a couple of odd things about the Pixel 9A rollout. The lack of pre-order availability was the biggest sign that something was wrong, but as The Verge noted

Google's debuting the new $499 Pixel 9A phone, breaking from the company's history of releasing the lower-cost Pixel A phones closer to the company's I/O conference.