Google Pixel 6a May Be Better Than The Pixel 6 Pro In One Key Feature

It seems the upcoming Google Pixel 6a will be faster than its more expensive siblings...well, at least in one area. A YouTuber was able to get his hands on a Pixel 6a, and his testing of the fingerprint sensor has some interesting results.

In our review of the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro back in October of last year, it was noted that the devices had sluggish fingerprint sensor performance at times. The performance of the under-the-screen biometric sensor has seen little to no improvement since then for many, even after more than a handful of updates to the devices. However, things may be improving for some Pixel 6 owners in terms of the fingerprint sensor and its performance, according to YouTuber Fazli Halim.

Malaysian YouTuber Fazli Halim seems to have been able to get his hands on a retail-ready Pixel 6a sample. During the unboxing and testing of the smartphone, Halim tests the under-the-screen fingerprint sensor of the Pixel 6a and Pixel 6 Pro side by side. The results showed that the newer and more affordable version had faster and more accurate results than the its bigger and more expensive counterpart.

In the video above, which is cued to start where Halim is testing the fingerprint sensors, he is holding the smaller 6a in his left hand, and the larger 6 Pro in his right. The Pixel 6a unlocks after a brief finger tap for most attempts, while the 6 Pro seems to struggle at times and instead prompts him to "Hold a little longer." While the 6a does falter a couple of times with a brief touch, it does appear it still has the more reliable performance overall.

It is important to note that the Pixel 6a was said to be coming with a different fingerprint sensor to the 6 and 6 Pro, according to Senior VP of Devices & Services at Google, Rich Osterloh during Google I/O 2022 when the 6a was first announced. Current Pixel 6 and 6 Pro owners seem to be stuck with the inefficient fingerprint sensor they currently have.

In other areas the 6a will still be a bit behind its other siblings. It will come with a smaller 6.1-inch 60Hz Full+ OLED display, a lower resolution 12.2MP primary camera and a base memory configuration of 6GB and 128GB. But it will still house the same Google made Tensor SOC.

It is hard to say for sure how much better Google's Pixel 6a fingerprint sensor will end up being compared to the 6 and 6 Pro, but the early showing seems promising for the cheaper version out of the gate. The 6a is scheduled to be released July 28th, and is said to have a starting price of $449. However, the Pixel 7 is also just around the corner, so fans of the Pixel may want to hold off until they know for certain Google has truly fixed that buggy fingerprint sensor before buying another one.

Top Image Credit: Google