Last year, Google released its first foldable – the Pixel Fold. It was released at a rather odd time. It was announced at Google I/O in May, but didn’t start shipping until June 27. Meanwhile, in October, the Pixel 8 rendered the Pixel Fold obsolete with a new processor and a much longer update schedule.
Google appears to have learned from that mistake last year and is releasing it at the same time as the other Pixel 9 models with the same processor – Tensor G4. Though, I’m not a huge fan of the name. But the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is here, with a new form factor, too. While the original Pixel Fold was short and wide, the new Pixel 9 Pro Fold has more of a traditional smartphone-sized cover display. It’s now a 6.3-inch 20:9 aspect ratio front display. While the internal display is the largest on a foldable (so far), it’s 8 inches and has a 10:9 aspect ratio. Google also listened about the brightness this year, giving both screens Super Actua displays, which reach 2,700 nits of peak brightness.
Overall, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold looks exactly like the OPPO Find N3 or OnePlus Open that was released last year. And the Pixel Fold had a very similar form factor to the Find N2 the year before. Google has shaved off some fat on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold too, it now measures in at 10.5mm thin when closed, and 5.1mm when opened, weighing in at 257g. That makes it the thinnest foldable available in North America, but still the heaviest.
Google is still nerfing Pixel 9 Pro Fold cameras
Unfortunately, Google is continuing to nerf the cameras on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. This seems to be a pretty common thing among foldables, with really only the OnePlus Open offering truly flagship cameras on a foldable. This includes a 48-megapixel primary camera, a 10.5-megapixel ultrawide camera, and a 10.8-megapixel telephoto camera. Even the $799 Pixel 9 offers a better camera setup here. That is, however, a 5x telephoto sensor, though at 10.8-megapixels, may not be the best quality. Of course, that’s where Google’s AI comes in.
Google says that with Super Res Zoom, you can get 20x zoom on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Google also offers the ability to frame your shot however you want with Pro Controls. Allowing you to adjust the aperture, exposure and much more.
Speaking of AI, Google is also touting Gemini quite a bit here. It’s going to be the default assistant on all of the new Pixel phones. This means that you won’t have the choice of Google Assistant or Gemini; it’s simply Gemini. You will be able to use Gemini in split screen to do more things at once, and chat with Gemini to get more information about what’s on your display. All buyers will get a year of the Google One AI Premium plan, which includes Gemini Advanced and 2TB of Google One storage.
Google has also optimized YouTube TV’s multiview mode for the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. So this fall, when football season starts, you can watch the NFL Sunday Ticket on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which has up to four streams at the same time. It’s too bad this launched after the Olympics because that could have been a killer feature for the Paris Olympics.
7 years of updates, launching with Android 14
This is going to be a bit of a mixed bag here, but Google is offering 7 years of updates on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold (as well as the rest of the Pixel 9 series). However, it is launching with Android 14, even though Android 15 is basically ready to go. This means that this phone is only guaranteed to be updated until Android 21, and not Android 22. It’s a pretty minor thing, as I doubt most people buying this phone are going to keep it for 7 years, but it’s worth mentioning.
Launching with Android 14 is a bit of a strange move by Google. This makes us think that Android 15 is not quite ready for roll out, and might launch in September instead. As soon as we hear more about Android 15’s rollout, we’ll be sure to let everyone know.
When can you buy the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold?
Google will open pre-orders for Pixel 9 Pro Fold today as soon as the keynote ends. We don’t yet know when they will ship, though rumors did point to a September 2 shipping date. Google is pricing the Pixel 9 Pro Fold at $1,799 for 256GB of storage or $1,919 for 512GB of storage. Once again, it will also be available in Obsidian and Porcelain color options.
