Any Pixel Fold review has to start by saying that Google is new in this space — in fact, this is its first phone with a folding screen, yet it still manages to be one of the best smartphones using the technology.
Released in August 2023, the Fold arrived just before the latest Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro flagship devices. Like all the best Pixel phones, you can expect the Google Pixel Fold to have a standout camera, a big bright screen and lots of AI capabilities. It fits neatly into the family while introducing a fresh take on Google's iconic design.
The Google Pixel Fold was launched at around £1,750 which isn't cheap but is in line with the competition. The price is this high because you get two devices in one — you won't need to buy a separate Pixel tablet because this smartphone can be transformed into a slate.
More recently, we've seen the price drop to less than £1,500 around the Black Friday and Prime Day sales.
Over the last couple of weeks, I've been putting the Google Pixel Fold through its paces to find out everything you need to know before you buy one. Here you'll find my take on its design, camera, display, performance, software and battery life.
Pros
- Fantastic cover display with lots of space
- Impressive camera system with a telephoto lens
- Premium design and build
Cons
- Heavier than other foldable smartphones
- Hit-and-miss software
- Underwhelming battery life
Google Pixel Fold specs
| Battery | 4,821mAh |
|---|---|
| Cameras | 48MP wide, 10.8MP ultrawide, 10.8MP telephoto, 9.5MP front, 8MP internal |
| MicroSD card | No |
| Operating System | Android 13 |
| Processor | Google Tensor G2 |
| RAM | 12GB |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2092 pixels cover, 1840 x 2208 pixels internal |
| Screen size | 5.8 inch cover screen, 7.6 inch internal display |
| Storage | 256GB, 512GB |
| Water resistance | IPX8 |
| Weight | 283g |
Google Pixel Fold design
As the name suggests, the Pixel Fold is a phone that folds out into a mini tablet. It's a good-looking bit of kit that echoes the design of Google's flagship handsets.
What to Read Next
You can buy it in two colours: Porcelain white and Obsidian black (I tested out the black model). The flat, matte glass black is paired with polished aluminium around the frame. It both looks and feels premium.
In its most compact folded form, the cover display stretches across the front of the device leaving room only for the hinge on the left-hand side. The bezels are quite slim despite having rounded corners, and the hole-punch selfie camera is tucked neatly into the top of the display.
Flip the phone over and this is one of the best-looking foldable smartphones out there. It features a raised camera bar, which, unlike the regular Pixel handsets, sits as an island instead of reaching both sides.
Opening the phone like a book reveals the bigger screen on the inside. The bezels are a lot thicker than on the cover and the camera is placed inside the top right-hand frame which looks a lot less elegant. One problem I have with the design of the internal display is that the phone doesn't lay flat on the table which means it rocks when you use one side of the screen.
For the most part, the Pixel Fold feels durable – the hinge is firm when you open and close it, it's IPX8 water resistant so will survive spills and splashes, and the glass back seems well protected against scrapes. However, the aluminium used across the camera bar and hinge is prone to scratches.
The phone opens up to 180 degrees and you can stand the handset up like a laptop, although it will rock if you don't pull it up far enough.
Around the frame, there's a volume rocker, a USB-C port and a power button that doubles up as a fingerprint sensor. I found the sensor worked quickly each time and was placed at a good height for where my thumb sits naturally.
Foldable phones are a lot bulkier than regular smartphones, and at 283g, the Pixel Fold is particularly weighty. Having said that, it measures 13.97 x 7.95 x 1.21cm which makes it slimmer than most as well.
Google Pixel Fold display
The Pixel Fold has an almost full-sized 5.8-inch OLED cover display with an FHD+ resolution of 1080 x 2092 pixels, up to 1,550 nits peak brightness and HDR support.
I enjoyed using the cover screen – it's bright and colourful with the 17.4:9 aspect ratio making it feel like using a regular handset. Most foldable phones have a long and thin cover screen that isn't particularly nice to use, and so the shape of this makes a massive difference.
Inside, the 7.6-inch internal display is the size of a miniature tablet. It has a resolution of 2208 x 1840 pixels, a peak brightness of 1,450 nits peak brightness and it supports HDR.
Like the cover screen, it's vibrant without colours being unrealistic, which makes it a great choice for everything from online shopping to mobile gaming. Both screens have a 120Hz refresh rate so they feel equally as smooth to scroll and swipe on.
I wasn't completely satisfied with the internal screen. Over the top of the glass, there's a protective plastic layer which affects the quality of the display, making it less crisp and more reflective. The brightness often makes up for that, but not when the on-screen content is as dark as Game of Thrones or The Irishman on the best streaming services.
Annoyingly, the hinge is visible whether you're using the screen flat or slightly folded. That partly comes down to how reflective the plastic layer is. I also found the internal screen was a lot more prone to fingerprint marks than the cover display.
Google Pixel Fold camera
So far, the Pixel Fold has been quite hit-and-miss. One area where it does shine is its camera system.
Google's smartphone cameras are generally impressive thanks to market-leading AI processing and editing, even its cheaper devices like the Pixel 7a produce great shots. Photography is often the downfall of foldable handsets so having a camera system as good as this is an exciting step forward.
The Pixel Fold has five lenses built-in. On the back, there's a 48MP main lens, a 10.8MP ultrawide camera and a 10.8MP telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom. On the front, you'll find a 9.5MP selfie camera, and on the inside, there's another 8MP shooter.
From the main lens, photos pack plenty of detail with balanced, realistic colours. You can shoot everything and anything from portraits to landscapes and cityscapes. In comparison to the top smartphone snappers, the results are a little dark but that doesn't take away from the fact that this delivers lovely images.
Complementing the main camera, the telephoto lens does a great job of blowing up the scene without sacrificing clarity. Not all smartphones come with a telephoto lens and in this case, it really helps to justify the price of the phone.
Admittedly, the ultrawide lens is less special. I thought those shots looked a little bland in comparison to those I snapped on the main camera.
There are two selfie cameras on the Pixel Fold. The camera on the very front produces flattering shots with good lighting and level colours. However, the internal display's camera makes photos look off-centre in the sense that your eyes aren't directed at the lens, and the quality isn't as good, I only used it for video calls.
Google Pixel Fold sample photos
Take a look at the gallery below to see some unedited shots taken on the Pixel Fold.
Google Pixel Fold performance and battery
Under the hood, the Pixel Fold has a Google Tensor G2 processor. In 2024, it's not Google's latest chipset but it's still a powerful bit of hardware. To go alongside that, there's 12GB of RAM and a choice of either 256GB or 512GB of storage.
The Pixel Fold is speedy most of the time, but there are moments when it feels slow and buggy. I'd put that down to the software rather than hardware because when it works, it works very well. It'll load Google's suite of apps immediately and it copes well with complex AI tasks like Transcription and Live Translate. Yet when I opened some third-party apps on the internal display, I occasionally ran into issues.
Google claims the Pixel Fold's battery will last beyond 24 hours of use thanks to the 4,821mAh cell inside. While this will vary person by person, it got me through an entire day at the office without needing to be plugged in, although I did need to charge it in the evening.
To compare it more directly to other smartphones, I downloaded and played an HD video at full brightness over the space of two hours. In that time, the battery life dropped by 20% suggesting it would have lasted a total of 10 hours. That's fine, but it's nowhere near the 20 hours or more achieved by other handsets.
Using a 30W charger, it took about 75 minutes to charge the handset from 0 to 100%. It can be charged wirelessly too.
Google Pixel Fold software
Software is usually one of the best things about Pixel phones. Partly because every time a new update comes out Pixels are the first devices to get it, and partly because they run the purest form of the Android operating system.
Unlike other versions of the OS, Google's Android is clean with minimal bloatware and the system settings are easy to figure out. I love how it looks because it's colourful without being cartoonish.
In saying that, a folding screen does have some extra requirements when it comes to software, and this is where Google has some work to do.
The Pixel Fold doesn't make the most out of the big screen. More often than not apps don't take up the full space available, or they aren't displayed neatly across the hinge, sometimes they even crash or lag.
Android currently has around 50 apps which have been optimised for larger screens. That's a relatively small number when you consider the millions of apps available in the Google Play Store.
A mini-slate screen is meant to be helpful for productivity. As things stand, you can only split the Pixel Fold's internal display into two windows, so you could watch a video on one half while you type out emails on the other, for example. While that is useful, it doesn't go far enough. I'd like to be able to split the display into three or even four sections. Another slightly annoying quirk is that the front screen mirrors the internal display and you can't use them in different ways.
Samsung is top-of-the-class when it comes to foldable phone software. You can split the screen into 3 different windows, and Samsung has partnered with lots of different apps to optimise the content specifically for Samsung's One UI so it fits the big screen perfectly. It goes to show what's possible with a bit more work.
Google Pixel Fold drawbacks
The Pixel Fold isn't perfect, and like all folding phones right now, it has some disadvantages.
Firstly, it is a weighty phone, more so than a lot of other foldables. When you open it up, the bezels are a bit of an eye-sore. And the plastic coating over the internal screen impacts the quality. Another note on the design is that the aluminium scratches easily.
Elsewhere, the battery life is lacking, and the software isn't perfectly optimised for the big screen yet so suffers from a few minor bugs. I wasn't a huge fan of the internal camera either, but given the quality of the rest of the lenses, that seems like quite a minor criticism.
Google Pixel Fold verdict
The Google Pixel Fold is a great first attempt at a folding phone. While it has some way to go, it's worthy of its spot in the competition.
Yes, there are a few flaws, but there are also some elements that Google has nailed.
The Pixel Fold's camera system is the best you'll find in any phone with a folding screen at the moment. The cover screen is very convincing because it feels like using a standard smartphone, unlike most of its competitors. As well as that, the design stands out and I'm looking forward to seeing Google refine that over the coming years.
If Google fixes some of the software issues, this could become the best foldable phone in the world. But for now, Samsung still takes the top spot.
Other products to consider
The best Samsung phone with a folding screen is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5. Granted the camera won't match up to the Pixel Fold, and you won't use the cover display as often, but it's better in most other ways.
For something equally as modern but more compact, take a look at the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5. It's a flip phone with a good-sized cover display, plenty of power and solid battery life.
Not convinced by the flexible display? The best Android phone for productivity is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. It may not be a mini tablet but it still has a huge 6.8-inch screen, powerful performance and a stylus housed in the frame. You can regularly find it discounted in some of the best Samsung Galaxy S24 deals.
