One of the good issues in regards to the Pixel A-series was that it was an affordable approach to get the exact same class-leading digicam as the principle Pixel fashions. It’s one of many causes I purchased a Pixel 3A years in the past — that, and it was in inventory at Best Buy with in-store pickup. It was additionally one of many prime explanation why the Pixel A-series was our go-to advice for the very best funds Android telephone for years. Everything else in regards to the telephone — display screen, processor, battery — was effective, however the digicam was glorious.

That streak involves an finish within the Pixel 6A. Unlike the A-series telephones that got here earlier than it, the 6A doesn’t embrace the identical digicam {hardware} because the Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro. There’s no headphone jack both, which stinks, too. But slightly than an even bigger, 50-megapixel sensor behind these units’ primary cameras, the 6A has the identical 12-megapixel sensor that the Pixel 5 and 5A used. And the Pixel 4. And the Pixel 3.

That’s type of a bummer. But it additionally tells us rather a lot about the place Google sees the worth in its units going ahead. Google doesn’t need the Pixel simply to be referred to as the telephone with the actually good digicam. It desires the Pixel to be the telephone that does actually cool, useful stuff for you.

This was in all probability an inevitable transfer, too. The 6 and 6 Pro purpose larger within the premium class than the Pixel 4 or 5 earlier than them, so there have been extra choices to be made about what needed to go to make a funds model of the telephone. Google’s SVP of units and companies, Rick Osterloh, summed up the problem thusly:

Basically, what we need to attempt to do is get the core expertise to as many customers as doable. That’s the general aim. Every telephone has a whole lot of tough elements to attempt to cost-reduce. And so surely, it’s a must to change a number of the key capabilities within the system to get it to the place we wish it to be on the price-point aspect.

For earlier Pixel fashions, a giant a part of that “core experience” was the digicam. Now, it means Google’s customized chipset, Tensor. This is the processor that makes lots of the Pixel 6’s software program options, like improved speech recognition, doable. It additionally makes it simpler for Google to develop new options for the entire Pixel 6 sequence. Tensor has taken middle stage in Google’s priorities, and the digicam is taking part in a supporting function.

Of course, it’s value mentioning that one advantages the opposite. Tensor can also be behind a number of the new software-based digicam options on the 6 and 6 Pro, like Magic Eraser. And actually, the digicam {hardware} on Pixel telephones has at all times been secondary to the software program that makes them work so properly. But Google couldn’t outfit the 6A with the most recent {hardware} and software program this time, so it doubled down on the latter.

Maybe that’s a mirrored image of our priorities as individuals who purchase telephones, too. The distinction between what this 12 months’s smartphone digicam can do versus final 12 months’s isn’t as noticeable because it was 4 or 5 years in the past. And for lots of us, our telephone cameras have gotten adequate on the issues we want them to do this the distinction between a extremely good digicam and a just-okay smartphone digicam isn’t value paying an additional $300 or $500.

Moving the digicam out of the highlight on the Pixel is a wise transfer, even when it makes me a bit nostalgic for the sensation that I used to be getting away with one thing after I purchased the Pixel 3A. Maybe Pixel 6A homeowners will really feel that manner after they check out reside speech recognition and discover out simply how good it’s. (It’s actually good.) That’s the wager that Google is making, anyway.