So compared to the 9a: slight weight reduction, lightly better screen (better brightness and contrast, newer iteration of Gorilla Glass), Android 16 instead of

So compared to the 9a: slight weight reduction, lightly better screen (better brightness and contrast, newer iteration of Gorilla Glass), Android 16 instead of 15, some slight battery life and camera improvements that are probably from shipping with a newer Android version (and that the 9a therefore probably already has, since upgrading to Android 16 is an option). Seems to be using the same Tensor G4 CPU as the 9a, instead of the newer Tensor G5 of the rest of its generation. Unless I'm missing something, 9a→10a seems even more incremental than 8a→9a was. The price reduction is the most interesting thing about the 10a to me; if that ends up being permanent (instead of just a pre-order promotion), then once GrapheneOS support lands I could see this being handy with a prepaid SIM as a burner phone for international travel or music festivals or attending/documenting protests or something else where if it gets lost or stolen or confiscated as “evidence” or whatever then it wouldn't hurt quite as bad if I never saw it again. Otherwise, at the “normal” $499 pricetag I'm struggling to see much of a point v. its predecessor (or even its predecessor's predecessor).