Gift cards for Pixel 6a effectively reduce the price of Google’s new phone by $50

On Thursday, Google’s budget-friendly behemoth, the Pixel 6a, had its formal debut, but you can already get a $50 discount on it. You may get a $50 gift card in the form of store credit for each of the participating retailers—including Amazon, Target, Best Buy, and Google itself—when you purchase the $449 smartphone from one of them between now and August 7 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

You must scroll down to the “Special offers” part of the Pixel 6a store page and click the “Add both to basket” button in order to view the offer at Amazon. After that, the store will send you a real gift card along with your order. The gift cards from Best Buy, Target, and the Google Store can be obtained in-person or online, respectively. After purchase, the Google Store will apply the gift card to your Google Store account. With activation at the major carriers through Best Buy or through Google Fi at the Google Store, the offer is valid for the unlocked version of the phone at each retailer.

The $599 Pixel 6 and $899 Pixel 6 Pro, Google’s outstanding flagship smartphones, were announced in late 2021. The Pixel 6a is the mid-range counterpart of those devices. Since the Pixel 3, Google has always followed up its flagship handsets with a more affordable model from its A series. Historically, these models have provided excellent value by offering a strong taste of flagship performance (especially in the camera) at a more affordable price.

This year’s Pixel 6a doesn’t change the narrative in any way. According to Ron Amadeo, editor of Ars Reviews, the 6a is “the device [we’ll] recommend to anyone looking for an Android phone” going forward. Our assessment considered it Google’s greatest take on a mid-priced model yet. The main justification for this is that the Pixel 6a makes use of the same Tensor system-on-chip (SoC) from Google as the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. Our tests revealed that this chip is twice as quick as the Pixel 5a.

Given the cheaper price, the Pixel 6a does remove wireless charging, flattens the rounded edges of the Pixel 6’s façade, and has a slick plastic back instead of the latter two (as well as a headphone jack for the first time with an A series phone). It technically has a little less RAM and a display that is smaller (6.1 inches) and slower (with a normal 60Hz refresh rate) (at 6GB).

But like with all of Google’s Pixel phones, you still receive a minimally bloated, clean, and user-friendly version of Android, as well as five years of security upgrades and a three-year guarantee on major OS changes. A first for the Pixel A range, an in-screen fingerprint sensor is also included in the device. Overall, the 6a is a great price at its regular MSRP, but this offer should increase its worth for anyone who urgently need a new phone.