The Google Pixel 9a’s AI has a RAM problem

The Google Pixel 9a runs a worse Gemini Nano model than its siblings
This limits some of its on-device AI capabilities
There’s not enough RAM in the phone to run a better Gemini model

The Google Pixel 9a in many ways looks to be an impressive phone, but its launch hasn’t gone as smoothly as Google might have hoped. First, sales of the phone were delayed due to a “component quality issue”, and now we’re learning that its AI capabilities aren’t quite as good as we’d hoped and expected.

You see, Google has confirmed to Ars Technica that the Pixel 9a uses Gemini Nano 1.0 XXS for on-device AI, rather than the Gemini Nano XS used by the rest of the Google Pixel 9 series. That ‘XXS’ stands for extra extra small, so it’s a smaller model than the extra small one used by the rest of the Pixel 9 line.

That’s quite a big downgrade, as it means the Google Pixel 9a isn’t capable of all the same AI things as its siblings. Notably, Gemini Nano XXS is text-only, which means that – since it can’t process images – it can’t run the likes of Pixel Screenshots (an app that creates a searchable database of the content in your screenshots).

The Google Pixel 9a also can’t use Call Notes – which on other Pixel 9 models provides summaries of phone calls – as this requires audio processing skills that Gemini Nano XXS doesn’t possess.

Ars Technica notes though that summaries of recordings on the Recorder app will still work, as that app creates a text transcription without using AI, and then Gemini Nano XXS works on that text.

And AI tasks that run in the cloud will still be present, as Gemini Nano XXS is just for on-device processing. In theory then Google could one day offer cloud processing for the above missing features to enable them here, but there’s no indication that this will happen, and it would make these features less private than they are now.

Even where Gemini Nano XXS does get the job done, it may be slower than Gemini Nano XS, as the Pixel 9a will only load it when needed, whereas the other Google Pixel 9 models run Gemini Nano XS in the background all the time.

A RAM issue

So this all sounds like quite a downgrade, but perhaps an unavoidable one, as the Google Pixel 9a only has 8GB of RAM, and according to Google there’s at least 12GB needed to run Gemini Nano XS. Equipping this phone with an extra 4GB would have likely pushed the price up, and made it less differentiated from the standard Pixel 9, so it’s understandable that Google made this compromise.

As Ars Technica notes though, Google doesn’t call out the missing features on the phone’s product page, so it’s easy to imagine buyers simply assuming the Pixel 9a would have all the same AI capabilities as the Pixel 9. It’s reminiscent of how Google doesn’t always highlight when some Pixel features are only available in the US, and it can lead to disappointed buyers.

So that’s unfortunate. Still, from its flagship-level chipset to a new camera and a big battery, the Google Pixel 9a still has a lot going for it. We’ll let you know how well it all comes together once we’ve put the phone through a full review.