OnePlus 13s vs Pixel 9a: Which compact flagship is better for around ₹50,000

Now that the OnePlus 13s is out in the market, the competition in the compact flagship Android smartphone race has certainly heated up. Around the ₹50,000 to 55,000 price bracket, you have two great options with the OnePlus 13s being one of them, and the other one happens to be the Pixel 9a.
The Pixel 9a and the OnePlus 13s are fundamentally quite different phones. And if you are confused about choosing between either, we will make things simpler for you by comparing them to see which one could be the better fit for you, depending on what they offer. Read on.
Right off the bat, if performance is something that you are after, the OnePlus 13s, with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and base 12GB of RAM, offers a much more powerful experience compared to the Pixel 9a with its Tensor G4 chipset and 8GB of RAM. The Pixel 9a is going to be no slouch when it comes to real-world performance, but comparing both processors one-to-one, the Snapdragon 8 Elite certainly is the more powerful of the two.
The Pixel 9a comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage in the base model, while the OnePlus 13s comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage in the base model.
As for the battery, both phones pack large batteries, with the Pixel 9a having a 5100mAh battery, while the OnePlus 13s gets a much larger 5850mAh battery. Both phones also differ in terms of their ability to support fast charging. The OnePlus definitely has an edge here with its 80W fast charging compared to the Pixel 9a's 23W fast charging.
Now, this is where things get interesting because both phones have 6.3-inch displays, and that is what makes them so compact. The Pixel 9a has a 6.3-inch P-OLED HDR panel, which supports a 120Hz refresh rate and 2700 nits of peak brightness. This results in 422 pixels per inch. The OnePlus 13s, on the other hand, gets a 6.32-inch panel, which is an LPTO AMOLED panel supporting 120Hz. This has 460 pixels per inch. Both models have display protection, with the Pixel 9a offering Gorilla Glass 3, while the OnePlus goes for Crystal Shield glass.
Coming to the design, the OnePlus 13s has an aluminium frame and a glass back, and that makes it quite premium, while the Pixel 9a has an aluminium frame and a plastic back. Both phones also have IP protection, with the OnePlus offering IP65, while the Pixel 9a offers IP68 dust and water resistance.
Coming to the main camera, there is a major difference in terms of the lens offerings. While both phones offer dual-camera setups, the OnePlus 13s swaps out the ultrawide for the telephoto. So, the OnePlus 13s gets a 50-megapixel wide camera and a 50-megapixel 3x telephoto camera. Notably, there is no ultrawide-angle lens. The Pixel 9a, on the other hand, has a 48-megapixel main wide camera and a 13-megapixel ultrawide shooter. So, with the Pixel 9a, you are getting an ultrawide, and with the OnePlus 13s, you are getting a telephoto.
Depending on whichever you want in your camera setup, you can choose accordingly. Some people prefer having better zoom, while some may prefer an ultrawide to get more in the frame.
Both phones can also capture 4K 60fps video and 4K video from the front-facing camera as well. The OnePlus has a 32-megapixel shooter, while the Pixel 9a has a 13-megapixel selfie camera.
Coming to the software, the Pixel 9a is running Android 15 currently, and it is guaranteed to receive seven major Android upgrades, and it is going to be one of the first few phones to receive Android 16 in a few months' time. The OnePlus 13s, on the other hand, also runs on Android 15 with OnePlus's OxygenOS 15 on top. The OnePlus is going to get four years of Android OS updates.
Coming to the biometrics, both phones feature under-display fingerprint scanners, optical in nature. The OnePlus is going to be available in 3 colours: Green Silk, Black Velvet, and Black Satin, while the Pixel 9a is going to be available in 4 colours, including Obsidian, Porcelain, Iris, and Peony.
The Pixel 9a retails at ₹49,999 in India, while the OnePlus 13s has been launched at ₹54,999. It should be noted that you can bring down the price for both phones by combining bank offers.

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Similarweb data shows the number of queries directed to Ecosia from the European Union has risen 27% year-on-year and the company says it has 1% of the German search engine market. But its 122 million visits from the 27 EU countries in February were dwarfed by 10.3 billion visits to Google, whose parent Alphabet made revenues of about $100 billion from Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2024 – nearly a third of its $350 billion global turnover. Non-profit Ecosia earned 3.2 million euros ($3.65 million) in April, of which 770,000 euros was spent on planting 1.1 million trees. Google declined to comment for this story. Reuters could not determine whether major U.S. tech companies have lost any market share to local rivals in Europe. The search for alternative providers accompanies a debate in Europe about 'digital sovereignty' – the idea that reliance on companies from an increasingly isolationist United States is a threat to Europe's economy and security. 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