The Google Pixel 9a will not come with advanced features like Pixel Screenshots and Call Notes in the Phone app due to its limited 8GB of RAM. According to Google, the device runs on “Gemini Nano 1.0 XXS,” a variant that only loads into RAM as needed and accepts text input. This limitation means it cannot process images or audio.
In contrast, the Pixel 9 series with 12-16GB of RAM uses “Gemini Nano XS” which offers more capabilities. Notably, both devices will feature Summarize in Recorder, but the lower RAM variant only accesses this after a speech-to-text solution outputs a transcript. On the other hand, the Pixel 9a does offer Pixel Studio, an image generation feature powered by an on-device diffusion model and cloud-based text-to-image model.
Source: https://9to5google.com/2025/03/20/pixel-9a-screenshots-call-notes