Goodbye, Pixel 4a, We'll Miss You

Google has finally pulled the plug on one of its most beloved smartphones — the Google Pixel 4a. According to the folks at 9to5Mac, Google seems to have erased all references to the Pixel 4a from the Google Store, effectively delisting the phone from the website. The move didn't come as a surprise to most given that the Pixel 4a remained 'out of stock' on the Google Store for months.

This change comes a week after we reported Google's next "a" series smartphone, the Pixel 6a, may launch earlier than expected this year. Even though we weren't completely blown away by the Google Pixel 4a when we reviewed it in 2020, there was no denying it offered incredible value at $349.

The Pixel 4a will likely go down in history as one of Google's most popular budget phones — a great achievement by any measure, particularly for a model that was on the market for less than two years.

At first glance, the Pixel 4a seemed to cut back on many features to achieve its low $349 price tag. The device didn't support seemingly essentially features like 5G and wireless charging, and even the camera hardware was nothing to write home about. But the Pixel 4a made up for these shortcomings by offering just the right mix of features — most of which mattered to the average smartphone buyer. Google was also able to convince most Pixel 4a buyers that they weren't losing out on much over the more expensive Pixels.

The phone offered excellent performance thanks to the reasonably powerful Snapdragon 730 chipset. There was ample RAM as well (6GB), which made multitasking on the phone a breeze. The model also came with 128GB of internal storage, which was considerably more than what the Pixel 3a had. The Pixel 4a was also the last "proper" compact smartphone from Google with the Pixel 5a gaining considerably in size.

The 5.8-inch OLED panel on the Pixel 4a offered 1080p resolution and was as good as the displays you would find on the higher-priced Pixels at the time. However, what impressed most Pixel 4a users were its cameras that were capable of putting most flagships phones of the time to shame, let alone competing devices around the $300-$350 price bracket.

Interestingly, even though the Pixel 4a saga has come to an end in the U.S., the phone is still on sale, and in-stock in India, where Google sells the phone via Walmart-owned e-commerce platform Flipkart. So, if you are still interested in getting a "new" unit in a way that's still sort of delivered by Google, the only way ahead is to import one from India. Or just find one on your favorite auction website – in any case, good luck!