Google has just revealed its first-ever foldable phone at its I/O conference. It's called the Pixel Fold, and it was made possible by Samsung technologies, including two Samsung-made displays and a Tensor G2 chip manufactured by the Korean tech giant.
Arguably, the most important hardware details of the Pixel Fold are the foldable OLED panel, the hinge, and the wider aspect ratio compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 4.
The Pixel's foldable panel has 7.6 inches and a 6:5 aspect ratio, a resolution of 2208 x 1840 pixels, and a maximum brightness level of 1450 nits. The outer panel has a 5.8-inch diagonal, a resolution of 1080 x 2092, and can reach up to 1550 nits of brightness. Both displays support a refresh rate of 120Hz.
Google's Pixel Fold appears to have a waterdrop hinge design that allows the two halves of the phone to fold shut completely flat, with no gap between them. It's sort of a preview of what's to come through the Galaxy Z Fold 5 later this year.
When closed, the Pixel Fold has a 12mm profile, which means it's considerably thinner than the 16mm Z Fold 4. Oh, and the device has an IPX8 water resistance rating.
Tensor 2, periscope camera, battery life ‘beyond 24 hours,' but no S Pen
Other specs include a Tensor 2 chipset designed by Google to push AI features, 12GB of RAM, and 256 or 512GB of storage with no way to expand it. The device also features a 4,800mAh dual battery, which Google says should offer “beyond 24 hours” of battery life. The unit supports 30W fast charging.
Another feature that the Pixel Fold has but the Galaxy Z Fold 4 lacks is a periscope zoom camera with 5x optical zoom. The primary camera has a 48MP resolution, Quad Phase Detection autofocus, and OIS. The device is also equipped with a 10MP ultrawide sensor and a 48MP selfie shooter.
The biggest omission from the Pixel Fold next to Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 4 is probably the S Pen. Google's foldable phone doesn't have a stylus, so there are no S Pen-esque features on board. But the phone does have a few interesting software tricks up its sleeve, such as a live translator mode that makes use of both displays at the same time.
So far, the Google Pixel Fold looks like an interesting Samsung challenger with some clever software features enabled by Android 14, but it's not going to be a threat in terms of pricing. The Pixel Fold will cost $1,799, similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 4 at launch. As to when it will be released, Google says the Pixel Fold should go on sale in June, with pre-orders opening today.
