In an ad spotted by the PassionateGeekz team, fears of a Google Pixel 8a price hike are fueled by the alleged Canadian price discovery of the new phone.

The screen-captured ad shows the Pixel 8a starting at CA$708.99, with a higher capacity 256GB version starting at CA$792.99. For comparison, the current Pixel 7a was launched last year in the Great White North for CA$599.

This suggests a rather hefty price increase, but does not fit well with existing rumors and trends; for one, these are very sketchy-looking ads from third-party retailers and are in an oddly specific price range, rather than the x99 dollars we usually see for such phones pricing.

Additionally, we saw evidence of a possible price increase for the Pixel 8a in Europe from a reliable source, but it only showed a price increase equivalent to $60, not a $100+ price increase as this leak suggests.

While any smartphone leak should not be taken at face value, this leak deserves more skepticism than others. Perhaps the prices in this leak are accurate in very specific circumstances (unlucky Canadians?). may be accurate in the case of a budget phone, but it is hard to believe that Google would make a budget phone so expensive in a single generation.

The leaked image of the price does not actually show the Pixel 8a at all, not even a leaked rendered image. Fortunately, for those wondering what the new budget Pixel looks like, here's a fresh live-action video showing it off, courtesy of a now-defunct Instagram story by the account gsm_islame (via X-leaker @MysteryLupin) here.

Still closely resembling the Pixel 7a, the alleged Pixel 8a comes in the rumored Mint Green and Bay Blue color schemes, but the tipped Porcelain White and Obsidian Black models are not seen here. This purported new Pixel model still features a camera bar with dual rear cameras, but with more rounded corners to match those of the Pixel 8 series.

The Story also has some specs information; the Pixel 8a comes with 128GB storage and 8GB RAM by default.

The Google Pixel 8a is expected to be announced at Google I/O next month, along with news of Android 15 and Pixel Fold 2. There is not much left for Google to reveal about the Pixel 8a at this point, but we will be happy to take a look at it and finally test it to see if it deserves a spot in our best cheap phones guide.