If you’ve been eyeing Google’s new Pixel 10a, this is one of those rare moments where waiting actually pays off: preordering basically comes with free money baked in. For a limited time, major retailers and Google itself are dangling $100 in credit or gift cards just for locking in your order ahead of launch, turning a solid midrange phone into a much more tempting upgrade.

The Pixel 10a starts at $499 in the US for the 128GB model, and you can choose from four colors: berry, fog, obsidian, and lavender. Order it from Amazon, Best Buy, or the Google Store, and you’re looking at the same base price but very different flavors of “free” $100. Amazon is throwing in a physical $100 Amazon gift card when you preorder an unlocked Pixel 10a, whether you go for 128GB or 256GB and in any of the four colors. Best Buy matches the $100 value but sends it as a promotional e‑gift card via email, again tied to a Pixel 10a preorder at the regular $499 price. Google, meanwhile, keeps it in-house: you get $100 in Google Store credit that you can put toward accessories, future devices, or other hardware from the company’s online shop.

If you don’t care about gift cards but you do care about earbuds, there’s a twist. Both Amazon and the Google Store are also offering a free pair of Pixel Buds 2a—Google’s latest budget wireless earbuds—when you preorder, usually as an alternative to the $100 credit. At Amazon, you can specifically pick the bundle that swaps the gift card for Pixel Buds 2a if you choose the obsidian Pixel 10a, effectively turning the $499 phone into a mini ecosystem starter kit straight out of the box. Google’s own store also lets you choose between a $100 store credit or free Pixel Buds 2a on preorders placed through March 11, so you can decide whether you value immediate earbuds or future spending power more.

Where things get even more interesting is when you stack these preorder freebies with trade‑in offers and carrier promos. Google is advertising trade‑in values high enough that, in some cases, the Pixel 10a could drop to under $50 before tax if you’re sending in a recent flagship. One example given is a Pixel 9 Pro with 128GB storage pulling in around $450 of trade‑in credit, while an iPhone 16 Pro Max only nudges that up by roughly $100. Best Buy is also layering its own trade‑in program on top of the $100 e‑gift card, quoting potential savings approaching $495 if you hand over a comparable recent device and, optionally, activate with a carrier for another chunk off the price. In other words, if you’re upgrading from something relatively modern, you can trim the out‑of‑pocket cost dramatically and still keep the gift card on top.

Timing matters here. Preorders have already opened, and the Pixel 10a is scheduled to ship and officially launch on March 5, 2026. The $100 dollar is explicitly tied to that preorder window, not to open‑ended availability. As always, there’s a bit of fine print hiding behind the headline: the gift cards are typically limited to the specific retailer (Amazon credit for Amazon, Best Buy e‑gift card for Best Buy, Google Store credit for Google), and they generally can’t be used to discount the Pixel 10a itself at checkout—you’ll receive them as a separate code or balance for future purchases after your order processes. Still, if you’re already the kind of person who buys cases, chargers, smart home gear, or games from these stores, you’re effectively pre‑paying for those with Pixel money.

The phone you’re getting for that $499 plus freebies isn’t a throwaway, either. The Pixel 10a sits in the familiar “A‑series” sweet spot, undercutting Google’s flagships while inheriting a good chunk of their capabilities. You’re looking at a 6.3‑inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness, which is brighter than the Pixel 9a and a noticeable upgrade if you spend a lot of time outdoors. The front is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 7i, a step up from the older Gorilla Glass 3 used on prior A‑series Pixels, which should help with drops and scratches. Inside, you get Google’s Tensor G4 chip paired with 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage, keeping it in line with last year’s midrange but with the usual AI‑forward feature set.

Design‑wise, the Pixel 10a doesn’t try to reinvent anything—if you’ve seen the Pixel 9a or Pixel 10, you’ll recognize the camera bar and overall silhouette—but there are a few subtle improvements. The bezels around the display are around 10 percent narrower, making the front look a bit more modern without pushing the size into unwieldy territory. Google is also using a completely flat back with a smooth camera bar that sits flush with the body, which means no more rocking when the phone is on a table, a tiny but nice quality‑of‑life tweak. The color lineup—lavender, berry, fog, obsidian—leans into Google’s usual playful pastel theme, giving you options that don’t feel as generic as the typical black‑white‑blue palette.

The bigger story, though, is how the 10a fits into Google’s growing AI‑driven ecosystem. This phone brings many of the headline AI features from the flagship Pixel 10, like upgraded photo tools and on‑device smarts, while trimming a few of the heavier, memory‑hungry tricks that stay exclusive to the higher‑end models. The result is a device that feels very close to the “real” Pixel experience for a much lower price, especially when you factor in that $100 kickback. The trade‑off is that you miss out on some of the most experimental features and on support for Google’s magnetic PixelSnap accessories, which rely on hardware the 10a doesn’t have.

From a buyer’s perspective, the question isn’t so much “Is this a good deal?” as “Which version of the deal makes the most sense for me?” If you live on Amazon, the $100 physical card is almost as good as cash—you can throw it at a case, a fast charger, or your next big purchase. Best Buy’s e‑gift card is perfect if you like grabbing games, headphones, or more smart home gear from big‑box retail, and it plays nicely with in‑store trade‑ins and carrier activations. Google’s $100 store credit makes the most sense if you’re already invested in Google hardware and can see yourself putting that balance toward a future Nest device, another Pixel, or a smartwatch somewhere down the line. If you’ve been meaning to replace your earbuds, the free Pixel Buds 2a bundles are arguably even better than the gift cards, since the earbuds themselves retail for around $129 and give you an instant audio upgrade with your phone.

The catch, as with most of these promos, is that they’re designed to nudge you into buying early rather than waiting for traditional discounts later in the year. There’s no guarantee the Pixel 10a will see substantial price cuts any time soon, especially given how aggressive this preorder push already is. But if you were already planning to upgrade and you’re okay locking in now, grabbing an extra $100 in value—or a fresh pair of earbuds—for something you were going to buy anyway is hard to argue with. For a $499 midrange phone that already looks competitive on specs and software alone, the Pixel 10a’s preorder bonuses turn it from a “maybe later” into a “might as well do it now” kind of purchase.

Disclaimer: Prices and promotions mentioned in this article are accurate at the time of writing and are subject to change based on the retailers’ discretion. Please verify the current offer before making a purchase.