Google leaving that function out of the 6a - and its predecessors - boils down to cost.
The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro don’t have that function either. The absence of a MicroSD card slot from the Pixel 6a shouldn’t come as a total surprise. The Pixel 6a does not have an SD card slot. Now that the Pixel 6a has been released into the wild, can you expect it to have an SD card slot that its predecessors were missing? Sadly, the answer is no. Whether it be the original Pixel from 2016 or last year’s Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, we’ve never seen a Pixel with an SD card slot.
In the case of Google, specifically, it’s never supported MicroSD card expansion for its Pixel devices. Unfortunately, as useful as expandable storage with SD cards can be, very few phones still have them today. People take so many selfies, pictures, and videos on their phones, as well as download games and apps that can eat up a load of storage space. In a perfect world, every smartphone would come with some form of expandable storage - including phones like the Google Pixel 6a.
