Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold review: the ideal foldable phone design

Google has cracked the foldable formula on its second attempt by creating a slightly chunkier Pixel 9 Pro that opens up for a large 8in tablet screen on the inside, beating Samsung at its own game.

Compared with the previous efforts, from the squat and fat passport-shaped Pixel Fold to Samsung’s many long and thin Galaxy Z Folds, the new Pixel’s simple shape seems so familiar and easy to use you wonder why it took so long for anyone to try it.

While it may seem odd to praise a £1,749 (€1,899/$1,799/A$2,699) cutting-edge gadget for being most like a “normal” phone that costs half as much, the shape and size of the various foldables’ internal screens has never been an issue. Instead, the closed form has always felt like a huge compromise until now.

Smaller rivals such as the OnePlus Open and Honor’s Magic V series have come close but the Pixel tops the lot. You can simply forget it is anything but a slightly heavy, ordinary 6.3in phone and go about your day, until you need the great-looking 8in tablet screen on the inside.

The square shape of the tablet screen makes it ideal for using two apps side by side but less well suited to widescreen video, requiring big black bars at the top and bottom. The crease necessary to allow the screen to fold in the middle is less noticeable than previous versions but it is still a compromise common to all folding displays alongside their softer, less durable materials. Otherwise, the display is crisp and smooth, rivalling the best on the market, with a very high brightness that makes using it outdoors much easier than previous versions.

The Fold has the Tensor G4 chip and 16GB of RAM from the other Pixel 9 Pros, performing similarly. It is snappy in operation and handles two apps on screen simultaneously just fine, but it can’t match the raw performance of Android rivals running Qualcomm’s top chips.

The battery life varies more than a regular phone because of the two screens but the Fold lasts about 40 hours charging it every other day. That’s short of Samsung’s best but eight hours longer than the original Pixel Fold. A full charge takes about 97 minutes using a 45W USB-C charger (not included).

Specifications

• Outside screen: 6.3in FHD+ 120Hz OLED (422ppi)

• Inside screen: 8in 120Hz OLED (373ppi)

• Processor: Google Tensor G4

• RAM: 16GB

• Storage: 256 or 512GB

• Operating system: Android 14

• Camera: 48MP wide, 10.5MP ultrawide, 10.8MP 5x telephoto; two 10MP selfie cameras

• Connectivity: 5G, e-sim, USB-C, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3, UWB, GNSS

• Water resistance: IPX8 (1.5 metres for 30 minutes)

• Dimensions folded: 155.2 x 77.1 x 10.5mm

• Dimensions unfolded: 155.2 x 150.2 x 5.1mm

• Weight: 257g

AI multitasking

The Fold ships with Android 14 and seven years of software support, including an upgrade to Android 15 in the autumn, matching the rival Samsung.

The big new additions for the Pixel phones this year are all AI-based. The new Gemini Live experience is the highlight for fully conversational experiences, allowing flowing back and forth discussions, such as suggestions for stage names or the best parkruns for personal bests near you. The required £19-a-month Gemini Advanced subscription is included for a year with the phone.

The Fold can run the Gemini app side by side with another app, allowing you to have full discussions with Google while doing something else, such as generating images in the Pixel Studio app or searching for tickets in the AI Screenshots app.

Google Photos’ Magic Editor, which can “reimagine” or fully recast a photo or insert objects using text prompts, is easy to use on the large inside screen, too.

Google takes a simpler approach to multitasking on the tablet screen than rivals, limiting it to running only two apps on screen at once.

A new option that allows you to continue what you were doing in an app on the inside screen when you close the phone by swiping up on the outside screen works well. Pairs of split-screen apps can be saved as an icon on the home screen for instant access, while apps can be resized to fit better on the tablet screen. Many more apps are already optimised for the bigger screen, too, including some games.

But there are still many apps that open as basic stretched phone versions, which don’t look or work great on the big square screen. Others you have to rotate the screen to get them to show their tablet versions, too. It’s a common problem Android has yet to solve.

Camera

The new Fold’s camera setup is similar to its predecessor: three cameras on the back, one 10MP selfie camera in the outside screen and another in the inside screen. Both selfie cameras are pretty good, but mostly used for video calls as the main cameras can be used for selfies and are far superior.

The main 48MP camera shoots great photos across a range of lighting conditions, the 10.5MP ultrawide is solid and the 10.8MP 5x telephoto remains unrivalled on a foldable. All three cameras are similar but not quite as good as Google’s non-folding 9 Pro phones, such as the 5x camera being softer on detail particularly in lower light conditions. But the Fold still makes the best of difficult shots and beats all other foldables.

It has plenty of modes to play with, too, including macro photography for closeup images and the ability to shoot while open or closed. New for this year is the Add Me group photography feature from the standard 9 Pro, along with its many AI-assisted features.

The most interesting addition is the Made You Look feature, which shows a variety of animated characters on the outside screen while you take photo to attract the attention of children or pets. It is a smart and useful feature that solves a real problem, but it uses the selfie camera in the outside screen, so is best deployed in bright light.

Sustainability

Google does not provide an expected lifespan for the battery but it should last in excess of 500 full charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity. The phone is repairable by Google and third-party shops, with genuine replacement parts to be available from iFixit. Costs for internal screen repairs will be in excess of £550.

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is made with at least 18% recycled materials, including recycled aluminium, plastic, rare earth elements and tin. The company breaks down the phone’s environmental impact in its report. Google will recycle old devices free of charge.

Price

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold costs from £1,749 (€1,899/$1,799/A$2,699).

For comparison, the Pixel 9 Pro costs £999, the Pixel 9 Pro XL costs £1,099, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 costs £1,799, the OnePlus Open costs £1,499 and the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max costs £1,199.

Verdict

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is the best folding phone-tablet hybrid design yet and is a massive leap over its predecessor.

It is so close to the size and shape of a regular phone it makes using it for messaging and other normal things when closed feel so natural you can easily forget the Pixel opens at all, which isn’t the case with all other rivals.

Opening it reveals the great-looking inside screen, which is super bright for easier outdoor use. Its square shape makes it ideal for using two apps side by side, which is particularly handy when using AI apps alongside a web browser or messaging app.

The fingerprint scanner in the power button and 2D face unlock are fast and accurate. The battery life is solid, and it feels snappy in operation. The cameras are class-leading, even if they aren’t quite as good as Google’s top normal phone.

The Pixel is still a bit heavier than ideal and has the compromises inherent to all folding devices, such as a lack of dust resistance and a delicate internal screen with a big question mark hanging over its long-term durability. Buying accidental damage insurance may be prudent.

It is also extremely expensive. But if you can stomach the price, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is the book-style foldable to buy.

Pros: a phone and tablet in one, just like a great-sized normal phone when closed, great tablet screen, good performance, solid battery life class-leading cameras with 5x zoom, water resistance, packed with AI and Gemini Advanced included for a year, seven years of software updates.

Cons: extremely expensive, much more fragile and costlier to repair than a regular device, no dust resistance, heavier than normal phone, 2D face unlock not as secure as Face ID, fewer power-user features than rivals.