When I first heard that Google was getting into the foldable game, I was quite excited. After all, the company makes some of the finest smartphones around in the form of the flagship Pixel range, and I was excited for that high-end tech to transition to the rapidly growing foldable market in the form of the Pixel Fold.
However, the idea and the reality were worlds apart. While Google did indeed release its first foldable in 2023, it certainly wasn’t the polished foldable I was expecting.
While the Pixel Fold’s cover screen and general design were fairly nice, the foldable had its fair share of issues; it was thicker and heavier than any other book-style foldable around at launch, battery life was lacklustre, the inner screen had a pretty prominent crease, and the bezels were pretty thick too.
That, combined with the fact that apps, rather ironically, couldn’t run on the Pixel Fold’s inner screen due to its odd aspect ratio compared to the boxy book-style competition, meant that it felt very much like a beta product – something that should’ve launched alongside first-gen foldables like the first Galaxy Fold back in 2019.
Rather ironic really, given that the Pixel Fold’s £1,749 price tag meant that it was in line with more established, capable foldables from the likes of Samsung and Honor.
It seems that even Google itself isn’t under any illusion as to how its foldable compares to the competition, especially in the foldable screen tech department. Case in point: if you go to the Google Store listing for the Google Fold, you won’t find a single image of the internal display. That speaks volumes by itself.
Well, it looks like that could be about to change with what I can best describe as the ultimate glow-up for the second-generation foldable. It’s said to come with a new naming convention – the Pixel 9 Pro Fold – and appear alongside the rest of the Pixel 9 collection at an earlier-than-usual launch in August, and as per usual with Google products, it has been leaked pretty extensively.
Firstly, it looks like Google has done a lot of much-needed work on the inner display, with rumours suggesting that it’s not only substantially larger at 8-inches, but it features a 120Hz refresh rate, a pixel-packed 2152 x 2076 resolution and 1600nits of peak brightness, complete with a much slimmer bezel. There’s no word yet on the crease situation, but I’ve got high hopes considering other problem areas have been focused on here.
That larger inner screen also means the cover screen is bigger, allegedly measuring in at 6.24-inches, an increase of 0.4-inches.
It also looks like a more premium, up-to-date foldable in leaked renders that seemingly ditches the weird camera bar present on previous Pixels for something much more compact – but that’s not all we’ve got to go on here.
In a plot twist that nobody was expecting, Google has officially teased the foldable, showcasing a quick look at the design that lines up with all the previous leaks and rumours, while also teasing its new Google Gemini AI smarts – though we’ll find out more on the software specifics on 13 August at its official reveal.
Unofficial leaks suggest it’s not just a refreshed look for the camera housing either, sporting notable year-on-year upgrades that could very well make the Pixel 9 Pro Fold one of the best foldables for camera tech.
While the main 64MP camera and 10.5MP telephoto camera are said to be pretty identical to its predecessor, the 12MP ultrawide has a larger sensor for better performance, and the inner and outer selfie cameras are said to offer a big jump in camera quality for video calls and the like.
Considering just how well the Pixel 8 Pro performs in day-to-day shooting with its AI-backed camera smarts, I’ve got pretty high hopes here.
Throw in expected elements like the new Tensor G4 chipset, an expected seven years of OS upgrades to match the rest of the Pixel 9 range and a thinner, lighter design and this could be the biggest year-on-year improvement to a foldable we’ve seen for quite some time.
The question is now, could the Pixel 9 Pro Fold dethrone my personal favourite, the OnePlus Open, as the ultimate book-style foldable? It looks like we don’t have long to find out for sure.
