Google's (GOOG, GOOGL) Pixel 9 Pro Fold is here, and the company has a lot to be proud of when it comes to its second-generation foldable smartphone. Well, except for the clunky name.
From its book-like shape and battery life to its cameras, the Pixel Fold is a top-notch smartphone for anyone interested in diving into the world of foldables. But it's not perfect.
At a starting price of $1,899, the Pixel Fold is an expensive proposition that rivals Samsung's similarly designed Galaxy Z Fold 6. That's a fair bit more expensive than Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 15 Pro Max, which starts at $1,199, and Samsung's (AAPL) top-of-the-line, non-foldable Galaxy S24 Ultra, which costs $1,299.
Price is a big reason why foldable phones are still niche products compared to standard smartphones. But they have a lot to offer if you're willing to shell out the cash, especially the Pixel Fold. In fact, it's one of my favorite foldable phones, and the best foldable phone I've ever used.
Samsung's clamshell-style Galaxy Z Flip 6 is still one of the most stylish foldable phones around, thanks to the fact that it folds like an old-fashioned flip phone. There's just something about closing the phone when you hang up the phone that makes you feel like an alt-right '90s executive. But I digress.
I set the Pixel Fold on the magazine rack on my treadmill so I can watch the Mets on the big center screen while I work out. And on Thursday, I was able to keep up with my fantasy football teams by running the Yahoo Fantasy Sports and ESPN Fantasy Sports apps side by side on the Fold's interior screen.
While that center screen is certainly useful, it's not something I'd use every day. The biggest reason I choose the Pixel Fold over Samsung's rival, the Z Fold 6, actually comes down to their cover screens.
The Pixel Fold has a 6.3-inch front display, which is comparable to a standard smartphone, while the Z Fold 6 has a 6.3-inch cover screen that's just a tad too thin, making typing on the keyboard feel cramped with my thicker fingers. My wife, whose fingers are slimmer than mine, has no trouble typing on the Samsung's display, however.
The Pixel Fold's internal display is also slightly larger than the Samsung's foldable screen - 8 inches compared to 7.6 inches - offering a bigger canvas for streaming shows and multitasking. That's not to say you can't do both on the Z Fold 6, but even a little more screen real estate makes it easier to read text while using dual apps.
In terms of cameras, the Pixel Fold gets wide-angle and ultra-wide lenses, along with a 5x telephoto lens. Samsung's Z Fold 6 offers a similar camera setup, though it has 3x optical zoom. Photos captured with both phones come out fantastic, thanks to their advanced sensors and capabilities.
As for the Pixel Fold's performance and power, apps ran smoothly and the battery lasted all day (and longer).
But the Pixel Fold isn't perfect. Its speakers aren't very loud, so if you like using your phone to listen to music loudly, you're going to be disappointed. I use a white noise app to help me fall asleep at night, and I could barely hear the noise from the fake box fan thanks to the Pixel Fold's flimsy speakers. I ended up having to use a second phone just to get audio from the app.
Google also pushed the Pixel Fold's in-display selfie camera all the way to the top-right of the phone, making it unnecessarily difficult to keep yourself centered while video chatting via the in-display. Sure, you can use the front-facing selfie camera (yes, there are two separate selfie cameras) to video chat with friends, but why have that gigantic foldable display if you're not going to use it?
Google, like Samsung, has also packed a bunch of generative AI features into the Pixel Fold. The AI-powered Pixel Screenshots app is handy because it lets you take screenshots and quickly extract useful information from them by searching for the information you need. For example, if you see an advertisement for an upcoming concert, you can take a screenshot of it, and then if you want to remember what day the concert is, you can search for the name of the band in the Screenshots app and it will bring up the information you need.
Google is also loading its Gemini assistant on the Pixel Fold, which offers advanced search and conversation capabilities. But as with other smartphones, I didn't find much use for most of the Pixel Fold's AI features in my day-to-day life.
There's also a Pixel Studio app for making AI-generated art and a generative AI-enhanced weather app that don't add much to the overall experience. In fact, the so-called "AI Weather Report" feels like it takes longer to read than just looking up the temperature and current conditions.
For now, it seems like Google is throwing everything AI-related against the wall to see what sticks. There are certainly some clever ideas here, particularly with the Pixel Screenshots app, but I'm not convinced by things like the Pixel Fold's Reimagine feature, which is available via the Magic Editor camera app. The software lets you completely transform your photo using generative AI.
The idea is that you can make it look like you and your friends were standing in a field of flowers when you took a photo instead of in a Target parking lot. I'm sure it's fun to play with the feature for the first few days after you get your phone, but I don't see it being something I'd use every day or week.
But that's not why you'd buy a phone like the Pixel Fold. You're likely considering this phone for its unique design and foldable capabilities. And if that's the case, and you don't mind spending a little extra to get those features, then you can't go wrong with Google's Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
