Foldable smartphones have been available for quite a while now, but Google did not enter the fray until 2023 with the Pixel Fold. For unknown reasons it saw limited release around the world, launching in Germany, Japan, the UK and the US – but not Australia.
This year for the second-generation Google foldable smartphone that has changed. The 2024 Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, as we accurately speculated about not long ago, has officially landed on our shores.
Starting at $2,699 RRP, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is not a cheap phone but it is basically two phones in one with uses that far exceed the standard smartphone. It is available in Obsidian and Porcelain, the colour we received for our review unit.
Design and hardware
Where to start here is difficult because the design has so much going on that it’s tough to describe it.
The front of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold looks a lot like the Pixel 9 and that is because it has the exact same 6.3-inch display on the front as the Pixel 9. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold does have bigger bezels and of course the hinge on the left hand side to it making it slightly wider than the Pixel 9.
The Fold, when folded over, has the dimensions 155.2mm height, 77.1mm width and 10.5mm depth whereas the Pixel 9 is 152.8mm height x 72.0mm width x 8.5mm depth. The differences are not massive and when they are in your pocket you do not notice the difference but when holding in your hands the difference is very distinct.
Funnily enough, the Fold is also just 59 grams heavier than the Pixel 9 which is a pretty amazing feat of engineering considering it has an extra display and the hinge mechanism. If you want to know more about the outer display check out the Pixel 9 review but in a nutshell, it’s a vibrant, responsive, smooth 6.3-inch Actua display with refresh rates of 60-120Hz possible.
There is a selfie camera in this display, a 10MP Dual PD camera which works reasonably well, but it is far from the best selfie camera on this phone — that would be the rear camera.
The right hand side of the Fold houses the power button and volume rocker, exactly the same buttons (and location) as that on the Pixel 9. Google has definitely kept a consistent design language for most of the phone compared to the other Pixel 9 devices, including the matte metallic side rails.
The rear though is different. Gone is the new Camera pill that we are starting to love on the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro phones, instead replaced with a large, more traditional rectangular camera island in the top left corner. As with most design and hardware choices, a lot of the decisions were made due to the space constraints. Google wanted to make this foldable as thin as possible and some sacrifices had to be made and the new camera pill was obviously one of them?
The camera island is wide enough though that it takes up enough real estate so that the phone rarely wobbles when sitting on your desk and you are using the outer display.
As for what is in the camera island itself we will discuss in the camera section. While Google has improved the camera system from last year’s Pixel Fold, they still don’t match the Pixel 9 camera specs which is disappointing given the Fold is far and away the most expensive phone in Google’s lineup.
The rear surface of the Fold is a matte glass finish, the same as that on the Pixel 9 Pro XL and I love it. Fingerprint proof (if you decide not to wrap it in a case) and stylish it screams premium.
Open the phone and you are greeted with a large 8-inch Super Actua Flex OLED display (LTPO) with a resolution of 2067 x 2152 pixels at 373 PPI. Being an LTPO display the refresh rate can range anywhere from 1 to 120Hz.
The display is bright and colourful with the deep blacks that only OLED can provide. It is surprisingly good and difficult to discern much of a difference between that and the top of Google’s line Pixel 9 Pro XL display. It can also go up to 2700 nits peak brightness which is as good as the outer display (and that on the Pixel 9).
As with all foldables, there is a crease present on the display and while it is there and you may try and look closely at it for the first few times you use the device, it is so minimal that not only does it not affect how you use the phone but you also barely or even rarely notice it at all after the first few days.
In the top right corner is another selfie camera (and of course you can use the rear camera as a selfie camera with the phone opened), the same camera as that on the outside.
As for durability, the cover screen is covered by scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 with the same covering on the rear silky matte back. The Pixel Pro 9 Fold is IPX8 water resistant which is decent considering the hinge is the obvious weak point with foldables – although there is no rating for dust in that so be careful in dusty areas.
Connectivity-wise, Google has included a load of connectivity features in the Pixel 9 Pro Fold including Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth v5.3, the full suite of GPS, GLONASS, BAIDU etc. support, and there’s also a new Ultra-wide band chip inside for proximity reliant features like unlocking your phone with your Pixel Watch 3, finding lost devices and more.
Performance
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is equipped with Google’s new Tensor G4 processor. Google has also upped the RAM on the phone with 16GB. The storage starts at 256GB with 512GB available for an extra $200. There is a 1TB version but at this stage that is not slated to arrive here in Australia.
Google says the Tensor G4 has seen improvements in speed with the processor 20% faster for web browsing and 17% faster loading apps. I can say I haven’t noticed any slow downs anywhere on the phone at all.
The Tensor G4 has also allowed Google to include Gemini Nano with Multi-Modality, the first time they’ve been able to run it on a mobile form factor. This brings the option to include multiple inputs in Gemini to get the best out of their AI Assistant.
As for performance on a day-to-day basis the Tensor G4 seems a little snappier than the Tensor G3 in the Pixel 8 devices. Some games were able to handle more on-screen assets and it did feel more fluid when navigating around the system.
Google has advertised that some games will be coming with support for dual screen mode where the game is split into two and the bottom screen is the controller for the game but at this stage their beta testing links were not working so I was unable to test them out. Check back here at EFTM in the future as I’ll give them a run and report back when they are available. The current games listed are:
- Asphalt Legends Unite
- Disney Speedstorm
- Dungeon Hunter 5
- Modern Combat 5
Other games, playing in a more traditional way worked just fine, as good as on the other Pixel 9 phones. The entire operating system is snappy and smooth, something that Google do so much better than anyone else, so that Android users who have used Pixels have even come up with a term for it, the Pixel Experience.
There are still some apps that don’t play well with the larger screen and it’s not great. Instagram is one. There is so much they could do with it to make the experience great but Meta doesn’t seem to care that much about their mobile experience. Photos in Instagram are often cut off to make them fit which is unacceptable.
This occurred last year when I tested OPPO’s foldable and it is still not improved much at all. For such a big company Instagram do a terrible job optimising the experience to get people using their app. The solution is to use Instagram in split screen mode with another app beside it – it’s a simple as dragging and dropping the app icon onto the side you want it. This causes Instagram to operate in a more traditional app view.
Camera
The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold does arrive with a triple rear camera but each camera is inferior on paper to that in the Pixel 9 — It does have a telephoto camera though which the Pixel 9 lacks. I mentioned it above and it seems very surprising that Google are placing this phone as the most expensive phone in their lineup but have three phones with better camera setups for cheaper. For $2,700 I would expect the best camera possible but unfortunately that is not the case here.
Now do not think that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold does not take great pictures, because it does and thanks to Google’s computational photography the images are optimised to be some of the best around. It could just be better, that is all.
The triple rear camera includes:
- Wide Camera – 48 MP Quad PD wide camera, ƒ/1.7 aperture, 82° field of view
- Ultrawide Camera – 10.5 MP Dual PD ultrawide camera with autofocus, ƒ/2.2 aperture, 127° field of view and Macro Focus
- Telephoto Camera – 10.8 MP Dual PD 5x telephoto camera, ƒ/3.1 aperture, 23° field of view, Super Res Zoom up to 20x
There is also a multi-zone LDAF (laser detect auto focus) sensor, a spectral and flicker sensor and optical and electronic image stabilisation on wide and telephoto.
With all these inclusions though it should take good pictures, and it does. As you can see below the images are bright and although not as ‘natural’ as Google’s images have been in the past, they are still less processed and less saturated than some other manufacturers.
There are three ways and cameras to take a selfie with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and my preference is for the outer camera although it can look a bit weird holding it like I was below so be careful with that. Opening the camera app there is a quick switch icon to switch to the rear camera selfie mode to get that higher quality selfie image.
Battery and charging
There’s a 4,650 mAh battery in the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which Google says will last over 24 hours, with the option for a 72-hour Extreme Battery Mode.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold battery life got me through a full day of pretty hard use going from around 7am until I plugged it in to chargeb around 7pm with around 10% left at the end of the day. That was with an hour of Bluetooth music streaming at the gym, over 2 hours of wireless Android Auto and using the larger 8-inch internal display for at least half of the entire screen on time. The screen on time was just over six hours too which I considered impressive (and surprising).
As with the last couple of Pixel phones there’s no charger included in the box – though you do get a USB Type-C cable. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold does support a faster charging speed, as do the rest of the Pixel 9 series – if you purchase their new 45W USB Type-C charger for $49.99.
The fine print is that Google, in the phone specs, do not list the charging specs. They have not given us how long it takes to charge the Fold to 55% like they do the other Pixel smartphones. Some spec sites list the charging specs as 21W wired charging which is a lot less than the 37W the Pixel 9 Pro XL charges at.
Of significance also is that they list the Fold as supporting “Wireless charging” whereas they list the other Pixel phones as “Fast Wireless charging.” In my testing, the wireless charging does seem to be slower than the other Pixel phones but haven’t had the chance to get actual numbers yet. The same spec sites list the wireless charging as 7.5W wireless compared to 23W with the Pixel stand and 12W on the Pixel 9 Pro XL. The wireless charging difference is most likely due to the difference in thickness of the charging coil section of the phone.
Of particular mention here is the location of the wireless charging coils on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. They are in a totally different height/location than all other Pixel phones in the last few years. This means that, without MacGyver-ing the Pixel Stand 2, you will not be able to charge the Fold with it. Not ideal but I was able to add a piece of high density gym foam to the bottom of the charger to make the Fold the height required so the charging coils on the Fold match up with that on the charger.
The other solution is to get a different charger. I’m currently testing out a few wireless charging options, including those with a MagSafe case, so stay tuned for that in a few weeks.
Software
Google is launching the Pixel 9 series with Android 14, an unusual occurrence given the latest version of Android is on-board. The Pixel 9 will receive Android 15 as soon as it’s released – likely in October based on recent leaks – and will continue to receive OS updates, and monthly Security updates and Pixel Feature drops for seven years.
Just as with the other Pixel 9 phones, Gemini is front and centre. I’m still not a massive fan of it and no matter how much I play with it it just doesn’t seem to be fully ready for prime time just yet.
Some of the photography AI enhancements work as they should but others are very hit and miss. You can check out Dan’s review of the Pixel 9 Pro XL if you want a more in-depth analysis of Gemini and the AI on the Pixel 9 smartphones – he did such a good job of it, I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here.
Folding software
There is very little in the way of specific foldable software, just the setting you choose to decide what you want to have happen with apps when you close the device. When folding the phone closed you have the choice to have it always open on the outer display or never or somewhere in between where you swipe up to open it within a few seconds for it to continue on the other screen.
When you open the device it automatically opens the app you had open on the bigger screen so there is no choice there but I can’t see why you wouldn’t want it to open in continuance of what you are doing – why else would you be opening it?
I had no issues at all with any apps opening properly with them opening to their large screen formats on the inside. Not many apps had a large screen optimised format so that is very hit and miss but easily worked around using the split screen method described above for Instagram. If you love a certain app you could always ask the developer to support the foldable . Surely it can’t be that difficult?
Google has optimised their own apps for the large screen foldable format and I love their new layouts. Hopefully other developers get on board – maybe we’ll see it in a few years when hopefully foldable pricing drops and we see more people buying them.
Who buys the Pixel 9 Pro Fold?
Anyone with $2,700. While the Pixel 9 Pro Fold does not have the best camera of the Pixel phones it still has an exceptionally good camera. The secondary display is a massive 8-inch OLED LTPO display making it vibrant, colourful and buttery smooth while the outer display is a standard 6.3-inch smartphone display.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is incredibly thin, nearly as thin as a standard mobile phone meaning that you are basically getting two phones in one, without carrying around two phones worth of thickness.
If you want a phone that you can use to watch video content in a large format, multitask on the single display like you do with a tablet, and runs smooth software with some of the best AI features around then the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is for you.
The only real negative is the price. $2,699 is steep but unfortunately a standard price for a large screen foldable smartphone in 2024.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is availabe now starting at $2,699 RRP for the 256GB version and $2,899 RRP for the 512GB version in Obsidian and Porcelain colours. Get it from the Google Store, JB HIFI, Telstra, Optus, Harvey Norman, Officeworks, and Vodafone.
Scott is our resident open technology expert. If you can mod it, or want to use it your way, Scott has probably done it. From Laptops to phones, headphones and game consoles, he’s played with it and wants to see the next generation.
