The suite of new Pixel phones announced each year has grown now to four devices, with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold the most expensive, while also offering a versatile form-factor.
This year Google has updated their foldable with their latest Tensor processor, as well as making it more durable with a new gearless hinge and IP68 dust and water resistance rating. The phone also gets a larger outer display with Google bumping the brightness on internal and external displays. There’s also the introduction of faster wired charging and Qi2 wireless charging with magnetic accessories.
Priced at $2,699 with 256GB of storage, Google is also offering the Pixel 10 Pro Fold with 512GB for $2,899 – or with 1TB of storage for $3,289.
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold launches hot on the heels of Samsung’s dazzlingly slim Galaxy Z Fold7 which impressed Trevor with its design when he reviewed it. So, the big question is how Google’s foldable goes.
Hardware
Design
Visually you’d be hard pressed to see a difference between the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the Pixel 10 Pro Fold – though the Pixel 10 Pro Fold comes in more bold colour choices than last year’s simple black (Obsidian) or white (Porcelain).
The new Moonstone and Jade colours are fun, while also not being totally outlandish.
Google sent over the Moonstone for review – with one of the Pixel Snap cases to add a bit of protection, and I really like the colour. The case matches quite nicely, and doesn’t overwhelm the design, though does add a little bulk around the edges.
The case does have one issue – and while it’s not a show-stopper it’s an annoyance for anyone regularly swapping phones. The issue? The front of the case covers the SIM tray. While not an issue for most cases, the slim front cover case uses peel-off stickers to maintain a constant connection, so having to peel off the case if you need to access your SIM card is a little annoying and will ultimately mean your case becomes a little loose if you do it too often – so it may be time to switch to an eSIM.
Other than that though, the case is excellent, though and is barely noticeable when you fold the phone out.
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold has a solid weight in the hand, though it’s only a touch under 30 grams heavier than the Pixel 10 Pro XL at 258 grams, but it’s also much heavier than the likes of the Galaxy Fold7 which weighs in at just 215 grams.
It still feels good in the hand, though first time Fold users will have to get used to the option to fold out the display when needed.
If you use the case, you do miss out on the silky matte glass back covered in Gorilla Glass Victus.
Google’s camera island on the rear is essentially the same as the 9 Pro Fold, which is understandable with the camera setup the same.
The polished finish on the metal hinge is visible when closed, and requires a bit of polish every now and then to keep it fingerprint free.
The hinge is super smooth to open, and is covered by the IP68 dust and water resistance rating – the first folding phone to achieve this level of protection, meaning the phone is waterproof as well as being able to stop dust particles 1mm and above from entering.
Google says the hinge can handle more than 200,000 openings and closings – and I averaged around 10-20 a day, so it should be good for a few years.
There’s both face and fingerprint unlock on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, with both qualifying as level 3 biometrics so you can login securely to banking, password apps and more with either option – if supported on the app.
The fingerprint sensor is embedded in the power button under the volume rocker on the right hand side of the phone – saving Google from doubling up with in-display sensors on the internal and external displays.
The fingerprint scanner is fast, and accurate, though I’ve mostly switched over to the secure face login now which has been flawless for me.
I really do like the Pixel phones buttons though, they’re solid and made of machined metal with a really great ‘click’ when you press them.
While the Pixel 10 Pro series got updated speakers, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold has a similar speaker setup to the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, using a single down firing speaker on the bottom of the phone alongside the USB-C port, and the earpiece above the display. This setup works well for both the outer display, as well as the inner display, though you do find the earpiece fires away from you when the inner display is open.
Display
As a folding phone, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold includes two displays. Google has bumped the exterior display size on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold to 6.4-inch as well as the brightness on both the internal and exterior displays.
Let’s get it out of the way – there’s still a crease and you notice it a lot when the phone is off, but as with every other foldable, it melts away when you use the phone and have all that extra screen real estate to use. The Super Actua Display on the internal and external displays are capable of 3,000 nits peak brightness, so you can see either display in full sunlight – though the brightness certainly does show up that crease.
Google offers ‘Smooth Display’ on both inner and outer display up to 120Hz refresh. There is a difference though. While the inner 8-inch display runs from 1-120Hz, the outer display ranges from 60-120Hz. I leave Smooth Display on, despite battery warnings and haven’t seen too large an impact whether it’s on or off.
Performance and Connectivity
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is powered by the Tensor G5, which Google describes as the most significant update to Tensor processors since its inception, and it comes with 16GB RAM and storage ranging from 256GB upwards.
In terms of power, the Tensor G5 offers faster speeds overall with Google saying it’s 34% faster for CPU work than the Tensor G4, while the TPU for AI is 60% more powerful.
In real terms, the Tensor G5 opens and runs apps quickly just like other modern processors out there. Spinning up high-intensity apps like Genshin or other games you can see some benefit to options from Qualcomm and MediaTek – so if you are looking for pure grunt, there are probably better options out there for you.
Where the G5 shines though is in AI performance. Google has fine-tuned the chip, and the Tensor G5 is the first to run the latest Gemini Nano model unlocking over 20 on-device AI options.
All-in-all, the Tensor G5 is faster and runs cooler than the Tensor G4 in the Pixel 9 series, and if you want great on-device AI, the Tensor G5 delivers in spades.
Of course it’s time to run it through the usual Benchmarks – however as with the other phones in the Pixel 10 series, you can’t download the benchmarks through Google Play.
On the connectivity front, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold nails a lot of the high notes. There’s Wifi7 and Bluetooth 5.4, and UltraWideBand (UWB) support, as well the usual NFC for payments and all the location services.
For smart home enthusiasts Google has also included a Thread radio in the 10 Pro Fold. Thread is used for smart homes as a more reliable connection, enabling a low-power mesh network amongst the growing network of Matter enabled devices, giving you more options for eco-systems.
Camera
There’s five cameras on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, with a triple camera array on the rear featuring a 48MP Quad PD main sensor, 10.5MP Ultra-Wide camera with 127° field of view and 10.8MP telephoto sensor with 5x optical zoom. Google has also included 10 MP Dual PD selfie cameras on both internal and external displays.
The camera conversation of course includes Google’s new AI features, however as it stands, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold takes great photos in all manner of lighting. Even the selfie cameras are good – but they are pretty much what we saw on last year’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
The conversation is of course always on the difference between the Pixel 10 Pro Fold and the rest of the Pixel 10 Pro series.
| Pixel 10 | Pixel 10 Pro/Pro XL | Pixel 10 Pro Fold |
| 48 MP wide with Macro Focus13 MP ultrawide10.8 MP 5x telephoto lens | 50 MP wide48 MP ultrawide with Macro Focus48 MP 5x telephoto lens | 48 MP Quad PD wide camera10.5 MP Dual PD ultrawide camera with Macro Focus10.8 MP 5x telephoto lens |
The specs are obviously different, and the Pixel 10 Pro cameras also support their AI boosted Pro Res Zoom giving you a chance to get up to 100x zoom. Google does include their ‘Super Res Zoom’ on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold letting you get up to 20x, however it’s not quite the same.
All the AI features Google has been releaseing over the past couple of years, like Add Me, Best Take – which now has an Auto add option – are still here. Google’s newly introduced Camera Coach still hasn’t been able to add anything to my photo taking – but it’s worth a shot if you want to get some framing, lighting and general composition hints.
There is a neat camera feature Google has implemented only on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold if you shoot with the inner display open. When you take shots, you can now see previews of the last couple of shots which is a great new feature, especially when taking shots of active subjects.
Google has also enlisted their multi-screen phone to help you take pictures of kids with a feature called ‘Made you look’. This feature plays an animation designed to get kids to focus in the direction of the camera so you can get ready to snap a quick shot.
It works well on very young kids, but dogs ignored it completely.
Battery and Charging
Google has bumped the battery in the Pixel 10 Pro Fold to 5,015mAh, as well as bringing support for 30W wired charging and introducing Qi2 wireless charging at 15W with magnetic alignment.
The 5,015mAh battery is a decent bump on last years Pixel 9 Pro Fold which had only 4,650mAh. Google expects over 24 hours of battery life, and up to 84 hours using their extreme battery saver mode.
Reality is that the battery life is definitely better on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, but you can still run the battery down quite quickly depending on what you’re running….yes, games certainly did run my battery down.
Charging, Google says you can get to 50% charge in just 30 minutes using their 45W USB-C PD charger – as usual, sold separately for $49.99. My tests showed the 50% in 30 minutes was definitely achievable, with the full charge taking under
Of course the lack of 25W Qi2 charging – as found on the Pixel 10 Pro XL – is disappointing, however it’s a story of compromises for the Pixel 10 Pro Fold and this is another, so hopefully we’ll see the faster charging on next year’s model.
Software
Android and updates
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold launches with Android 16 and comes with seven years of OS updates, Pixel Drops, and monthly security releases delivered over-the-air to your phone.
Being a Pixel device, it came out of the box with the October 5th update and you’ll see the next update arriving in November.
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold, like the rest of its stablemates, includes all the new features announced back in May. The main visual change is the addition of Material Expressive 3 design language.
Despite the clunky name, the design change is like a breath of fresh air for Android. I quite enjoy the new natural, springy animations which make it feel like you’re interacting with things on the screen.
It’s the Material Expressive 3 update that drives the new Always-on Display: Full Screen Wallpaper, as well as live effects on the Lock Screen, which can separate out a person from an image to focus on them – though unfortunately you can’t specify which person in the photo.
A large number of the Google apps including Recorder, Camera, Clock, Google Photos (Editing), Calculator, Fitbit and Phone have been updated to the new look Material 3 Expressive and it looks good, modern.
Split Screen lyfe
Google has optimised the Folding experience for the Pixel 10 Pro Fold.
As we saw last year in Scott’s review of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, the experience flipping between outer and inner display is smooth, with options to resize the apps to fit the larger display on a per-app basis.
That’s all still here, but there’s new features for split screen, letting you drag and drop files between apps and resizing apps to better fit your use-case and some camera specific instances like Instant View which we saw above.
The split-screen improvement lets you adjust the screen bias for one app when you just want to keep an eye on one thing while doing another.
Drag and drop is super-useful when sharing photos, letting you keep say Google Photos open before dragging and dropping to Gmail or a chat.
AI
Google’s Gemini is on-board and Google hooks you up with their AI Pro plan through Google One which includes a heap of Gemini features, as well as 2TB of cloud storage – nice.
All the Google AI tools, Pixel Screenshots, Pixel Studio and all the in-app camera bumps that make editing so easy now, as well as Gemini Live.
Gemini Live is the more conversational version of their AI. It’s multi-modal, so you can talk to it, or show it things with the camera or what’s on your screen. Gemini is under constant revision, with things like the VEO3 video generation something quite fun to play around with.
Final Thoughts
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is in an odd place. The hardware design of the display and hinge has progressed well, with the super-bright Actua displays easily visible in any lighting conditions, while the improved hinge with IP68 rating makes it possible to use your foldable anywhere without fear of dust or water – making a trip to the beach less a terrifying thought.
The major sticking point for a lot of people has been the fairly chunky design – which isn’t actually huge, but it does seem fairly thicc when compared with the likes of the Samung Galaxy Fold7.
There’s also the scaled wireless charging, and cameras – with the 10 Pro Fold cameras slightly under it’s Pro siblings in terms of pure camera specs, as well as features like Pro Res Zoom.
The real utility of the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is in the display. Additional screen real-estate anytime you need it and on that front, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold delivers. I like that you can quickly flip open the phone to see things with better clarity – something my old eyes appreciate more these days.
At $2,699, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is one of the more pricey options out there for a phone – but it’s on par with folding phones these days. What it does have is the Pixel ‘goodness’ that Google delivers on all their Pixel phones, smooth performance, great Camera, AI features that support your real world and 7 years of updates delivering both security, and additional features.
Daniel has been talking about, learning about and using tech since he was able to toggle switches and push buttons. If it flashes, turns on or off or connects he wants to use it, talk about it and learn more about it. Like this article? Buy me a coffee!
