Samsung has had almost no competition for its Galaxy Z Fold phones in the West – especially in North America – even though that line is now in its fourth iteration. Fortunately, Google is here to rectify that and finally enter the fray with its very first foldable: the aptly named Pixel Fold.
A large screen, book-style foldable, the Pixel Fold is built to be slim and light. Google also promises that its unique software position makes the Pixel Fold the best option for apps optimized to use the larger display size.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Pixel Fold.
Where can the Google Pixel Fold be purchased?
After an early tease, Google fully unveiled the Fold on May 10 at the 2023 Google I/O conference, alongside the Pixel 7a and Pixel Tablet.
The Fold is out now, but availability is limited. For starters, it’s only launching in the US, UK, Germany and Japan, so if you live elsewhere we’re afraid you’re out of luck.
While you can pre-order the Fold now, most online retailers – including Google’s official store – list shipping dates between July and August, and many who pre-ordered the phone have had their order delayed.
How much does the Pixel Fold cost?
While there was some hope that the Pixel Fold would be affordable by foldable standards, that doesn’t really seem to be true.
The phone starts from $1,799 / £1,749 for a model with 256GB of storage, jumping to $1,919 / £1,869 for a 512GB model.
That’s more than the $1,799 / £1,649 / €1,799 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, a phone that is often discounted and so available for even less in practice, especially as it will soon be replaced by the Z Fold 5.
To sweeten the deal, Google is throwing in a free Pixel Watch for early buyers.
What are the Google Pixel Fold specs?
Displays and design
Clearly the most important addition to the Pixel feature set is a foldable screen. This is in the book-like approach of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Honor Magic Vs, rather than the vertical clamshell orientation used by the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Motorola Razr 40.
When opened, the phone has a large 7.6-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2208 x 1840, giving it a nearly square 6:5 aspect ratio. It also offers a fast 120Hz refresh rate, so it should be silky smooth.
That screen has already received some criticism for its thick black bezel around the edges, but keep in mind this has the advantage of housing the selfie camera, so there’s no distracting notch or punch-hole. The extra bezel should also make holding the phone a little easier when it’s open.
On the outside, the 5.8-inch display is of similar quality: it’s also OLED and 120Hz too, with the added benefit of a Gorilla Glass Victus coating to protect the phone from scratches. The whole phone is also IPX8 rated, so it’s as water resistant as Samsung’s.
Google was quick to boast about how thin the Fold is, measuring just 5.8mm when unfolded. That’s comfortably slimmer than Samsung’s latest, and one of the slimmest foldable phones around. It’s not one of the lightest though, its weight of 283g is significantly heavier than most rivals these days.
![Google Pixel Unfold flat](https://b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Google-Pixel-Fold-open-flat.jpg?quality=50&strip=all&w=1200)
As for the hinge, Google uses a waterdrop design that should keep the crease to a minimum, saying the phone should be able to stay open in just about any position across its 180-degree range of motion.
On the back you’ll find a similar design to the Pixel 7 Pro, with three rear cameras in the now signature Pixel camera bar design. The phone is also available in two colors: porcelain or obsidian.
Core specifications
When it comes to core specs, the Fold uses the internal Tensor G2 chipset that Google developed for its Pixel 7 phones. That is a powerful chip, but admittedly below the sheer power of, for example, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
Google pairs the chip with 12GB of RAM and a choice of 256GB or 512GB of storage.
Cameras
This is a Pixel phone, so of course we care about the cameras. Not only has Google dropped the Pixel 7 setup in the Fold here, it’s designed a new camera combination instead, with a trio of rear lenses.
![Google Pixel Fold Back Obsidian](https://b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Google-Pixel-Fold-Obsidian-closed.jpg?quality=50&strip=all&w=1200)
The main camera is a 48Mp shooter with OIS, an f/1.7 aperture and a half-inch sensor. That means it should be a pretty capable shooter, with the ability to capture a decent amount of light – plus all of Google’s smart post-processing, of course – although based on those specs it’s probably a little behind the 7 and 7 Pro’s main camera, which uses a larger sensor.
It’s accompanied by a 10.8MP ultra-wide and 10.8MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom. The inclusion of a telephoto makes this setup similar to the Pixel 7 Pro, but again, that phone’s 48Mp telephoto is probably superior to the one on offer here.
Finally, the outer screen features a 9.5-megapixel selfie camera, while the inner screen offers an 8-megapixel option but with a faster f/2.0 aperture.
Battery and charging
This bit is simple. The Pixel Fold is equipped with a large 4821 mAh battery, which Google says will provide more than 24 hours of battery life.
Google doesn’t ship a charger with the phone, or specify a maximum charging speed for that matter, but does say it offers “fast charging” with the Google 30W USB-C PD charger. Whether that means the phone will take advantage of the full 30W is another matter, so we’ll have to wait to review it to find out how fast it goes.
Likewise, the phone will support Qi wireless charging, but we’re not sure at what speed or wattage.
Software and updates
It almost goes without saying that as a Google phone, the Pixel Fold comes with Android 13, the latest version of Google OS.
![Google Pixel Fold closed](https://b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Google-Pixel-Fold-closed.jpg?quality=50&strip=all&w=1200)
Google says it has optimized more than 50 official Google apps to work well with the Fold’s big screen, and is also working with app development partners such as Spotify, Disney+ and WhatsApp to optimize their experiences as well.
Unique features here include selfies with Google’s Real Tone skin tone technology via the main camera, tripod-free astrophotography thanks to the phone’s tabletop mode, and live two-way translation using the two screens coming with Android 14 later this year.
Speaking of updates, the Fold gets three Android version updates – so up to and including Android 16 – and a total of five years worth of security patches.
If you can’t wait to get your hands on the latest smartphone tech, check out our guide to the best phones coming in 2023.