Google’s Pixel Fold a year later: I can’t wait for the sequel

I wasn’t sold on the era of foldable smartphones until I tried the Pixel Fold. For one, we have a fairly limited selection of foldable phones to choose from in the US compared to China. And the cramped, very narrow outer screen of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series never worked for my large hands. So Google piqued my interest immediately when it released a passport-shaped foldable phone.

I’ve been using Pixels for years, so I know Google’s strengths and weaknesses well. The software is clean, you get some really useful Pixel-only features (the Recorder app is a blessing in my line of work), and the camera performance is unbeatable – at least for photography. But on the other hand, the performance never compares to Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon chips, the devices tend to run a little hot, and there are sometimes strange hardware quirks. (Did you know that every Pixel 8 and 8 Pro has small bumps under the screen visible only in the right light? Now you do.)

Going into the Pixel Fold, I knew there would be additional tradeoffs. Foldable phones are heavy. Its cameras aren’t up to par with the best traditional phones. And after several years in this format, they often remain extremely expensive. Samsung and Motorola offer cheaper flip versions, but no such luck if you’re a Pixel fan.

However, it took virtually no time for the Pixel Fold to overcome these collective disadvantages. It’s far from a perfect gadget, but this is a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I’ve come to really like the first-generation Pixel Fold, but there are also some niggling frustrations that I hope to see fixed in the next Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

The first thing I learned was that when you have a proper phone outside, you don’t open the internal screen as often as you’d expect – at least once the honeymoon phase passes. The Fold’s external screen is perfectly usable for most of what I do with a smartphone. I usually unfold it when I want to watch YouTube, Netflix or check the news with The New York Times application. Sure, I’ve occasionally multitasked with two apps at once — and Google has made that workflow easier with software updates — but it’s not a common scenario. I’m still mostly using the big screen to focus on one thing at a time, albeit with much greater immersion.

From day one, my main complaint with the Pixel Fold has always been the screen brightness – or lack thereof. Just a few months after its launch last year, the $1,700 device was overshadowed by the significantly more affordable Pixel 8 series and Google’s new Actua/Super Actua displays. They look extremely shiny and are not difficult to use outdoors. With the Fold, I constantly increased the brightness slider to more than 80 percent, which doesn’t do battery life any favors. It can be difficult to see this phone when the sun is shining, and the very reflective internal screen only makes things worse.

If there’s one weakness that I’m relatively confident Google will fix the second time around, it’s the lack of pop. All indications are that the company will bring its latest (and brightest) display technology to its second-generation foldable.

The other major improvement I hope to see is a lighter frame. The Pixel Fold is a very chunky phone, even for me – a 6’1” man with large hands – and it can be difficult to hold over time.

I didn’t expect miracles with the Pixel Fold’s battery life. Is it fair to want this from any foldable? Additionally, Google’s Tensor chips have never been known for efficiency. But even on days when the big screen was barely used, the Fold worked… fine. It wasn’t always obvious that I would have a lot of power left when I got home after a long day, but the phone almost always did it. Like other Pixels, the Fold can sometimes charge at a snail’s pace when you’re actively using it while it’s plugged in. Overall, its toughness is surpassed by the more conventional Pixel 8 Pro, but that’s to be expected when you’re pitting two screens against one.

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is rumored to be heading in the direction of the OnePlus Open, with a taller design. You will basically get a regular phone on the outside. This means that the aspect ratio of the internal screen will also change, which is good as I found that many apps had black bars on both sides when I kept the Fold open. This is Android, so you can’t really count on developers quickly adopting an individual device. Google finally added an option to force apps to go full screen in the software, but the 9 Pro Fold’s new dimensions should theoretically mean more apps will do this by default.

Many apps to do play well with the Fold. Editing photos from my mirrorless camera in Adobe Lightroom has been a great experience from the start – even if the device sometimes gets a little warm while doing so. If I’m not traveling with my iPad, this is the next best option for making some adjustments on the go.

I used two Fold review units last year and neither of them broke or had catastrophic screen problems. But not everyone was so luckyand repairing or replacing any foldable under warranty can be an ordeal. The camera’s glossy bar inevitably shows wear, and scratches on the soft internal screen are inevitable. But they’re also easy to forget when the screen is on – just like the crease.

The speakers on this $1,700 phone are decidedly average. They were impressed by Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and Google’s Pixel 8 Pro. Give me something with a little more oomph, Google. Please!

The Pixel Fold’s cameras get the job done. They are reliable, as Allison wrote in her review. But they’re also nothing to write home about. Google’s computational photography wizardry can help improve your photos, but you’re dealing with a smaller sensor than that on regular flagship phones, and the software can’t fully compensate for that.

Google is expected to announce the Pixel 9 Pro Fold (and more) at its August 13th event. The first Pixel Fold got enough things right to make me a believer in foldables. Now the company just needs to prove that it can take that potential and versatility to the next level – and, hopefully, the screen brightness too.

Photography by Chris Welch/The Verge