The Pixel 7 series is now complete. As expected, Google took to its I/O 2023 main keynote to announce its latest budget smartphone, the Pixel 7a. It comes with most of the specs that make both the Google Pixel 7 and 7 Pro so beloved while cutting next to no corners other than display size and premium build materials. It definitely makes for one of the best budget phones around. If you're planning on buying one, you'll be glad to know that system images are now available for you to install, just in case things go south.

The very first system images for the Pixel 7a are now available for download and flashing. You can use Google's online flashing tool, which will allow you to do a one-off installation from your browser without needing to download or set up anything on your PC, or you can download the ZIP yourself and install it through your own means. As you might guess, there aren't really any updates for the Pixel 7a just yet. The images could become useful whenever the Android 14 Beta program becomes available for it, and you need to revert to stable without a regular OTA update for some reason. So this will allow you to, in the event of disaster, flash the Pixel 7a's firmware and bring it back to life.

There are three different builds — a build for the US unlocked version, a build for the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Asia) region, and a build for Verizon users. With this being a full system image, flashing it on your phone will usually erase all data stored on it, so it's something you should only do as a last ditch effort or if you have a backup of the data on your device.

Even though Google only just announced the Pixel 7a, it's already available for sale. If you order today, your unit will be on its way in no time.