Google obtained quite a bit proper with the Pixel Fold, particularly its spacious cowl display screen and high-quality rear digital camera system. However Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 simply went on sale, and its sleeker design and a lighter construct makes me need extra from Google’s subsequent foldable, the Pixel 9 Professional Fold.
The search large will introduce the Pixel 9 Professional Fold at an occasion on Aug. 13, throughout which we’re anticipating to study extra about Google’s smartphone plans. Above all else, I would like Google to do what no foldable cellphone-maker has carried out but: invent compelling new software program options particularly for foldable telephones.
I could sound like a damaged report. However as the discharge of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 exhibits, phone-makers nonetheless have not progressed a lot when it comes to software program that takes benefit of a number of screens. Whereas the power to prop open the system to take a photograph or view apps in split-screen mode is useful, I wish to see extra artistic methods to utilize the 2 screens you get with a foldable cellphone.
The Pixel 9 Professional Fold is predicted to reach simply because the foldable cellphone market continues to develop, though it nonetheless represents a small portion of the general cellphone market. In a report supplied to CNET, the Worldwide Information Company said that foldable shipments grew by 33% year-over-year within the first quarter of 2024.
A brand new processor and a few design tweaks are doubtless in retailer for Google’s subsequent foldable, the latter of which Google has already confirmed via photographs posted on its web site. However this is what the Pixel 9 Professional Fold must preserve tempo with Samsung and handle my greatest criticisms concerning the authentic Pixel Fold.
Learn extra: Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Z Fold 5: Testing Samsung’s New Ultrawide Digicam Sensor
Extra progressive software program options
The Pixel Fold (and different foldable telephones) might use extra artistic software program options.
If you are going to pay prime greenback for a foldable cellphone, you need an expertise that feels notably completely different from that of an everyday, bar-type cellphone. For some, the good thing about having each a tablet-sized inner display screen and a phone-sized display screen could test that field. However now that foldable telephones have been broadly out there for round 5 years, I hoped to see extra from corporations like Google with regards to the software program.
We’re nonetheless treating book-style foldables as in the event that they’re simply bigger smartphones when there’s a chance for them to be a brand new kind of system totally. I lately wrote that Samsung ought to undertake a characteristic just like Apple’s Standby mode for the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s cowl display screen, and I feel Google ought to do the identical.
Actually, it is in an excellent higher place to take action. Not solely is the Pixel Fold’s entrance display screen wider than the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s, however Google can draw from its expertise with the Pixel Pill to create a wise display-style interface for the duvet display screen.
I hope Google’s subsequent foldable cellphone takes a web page from the Pixel Pill (pictured) for its cowl display screen.
There’s additionally room for Gemini to evolve on a tool just like the Pixel 9 Professional Fold. Provided that Google is emphasizing Gemini’s multimodal capabilities — its means to course of numerous inputs reminiscent of speech, photographs, textual content and extra — I am curious to see whether or not that may be utilized in fascinating methods via Google’s foldable.
Not like a standard cellphone, a tool just like the Pixel Fold would not want a separate kickstand or tripod to be propped up. That makes it simpler to function the digital camera and display screen concurrently with out having to carry the system. I’m wondering what it might imply for Gemini sooner or later as Google leans extra deeply into its multimodal nature.
Regardless, it might be good to see a particular model of Gemini tailor-made to the Pixel Fold’s twin screens. Google is already serious about this; the Gemini overlay that seems if you summon the digital assistant will quickly be capable to run in multiwindow mode on the Z Fold 6. It appears believable that Google would bake the identical performance into its personal foldable.
We’ll doubtless hear quite a bit about Gemini throughout Google’s Aug. 13 occasion, as implied by Google’s Gemini-heavy placeholder product web page for the Pixel 9 Professional and Pixel 9 Professional Fold.
A thinner and lighter design
The Pixel Fold feels heavy in comparison with newer foldable telephones.
Now that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 has arrived, it is time for Google to step its sport up when it comes to design. At 283 grams, the Pixel Fold is notably heavier than the 239-gram Galaxy Z Fold 6, and it is also a bit thicker than the Z Fold 6 when opened (5.8 millimeters versus 5.6mm). Honor and Xiaomi are even additional forward on this regard; the Honor Magic V3 is 226 grams, whereas the Xiaomi Combine Fold 4 is simply 4.59mm when unfolded.
Dimension and weight will not be a very powerful parts of a cellphone, however making the Pixel 9 Professional Fold extra compact would go a good distance in making it really feel much less burdensome and extra pure. The Galaxy Z Fold 6’s lighter design was the very first thing I seen about it upon selecting it up, and I am hoping that Google’s subsequent foldable system will go away an analogous impression. The Pixel Fold simply feels clunky compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 6.
Design issues extra for foldables than it does for normal telephones. The thinner and lighter these gadgets get, the much less they really feel like two telephones sandwiched collectively. Plus, their unconventional seems to be already entice consideration, making their aesthetics all of the extra vital. Based mostly on Google’s photographs, it seems to be just like the Pixel 9 Professional Fold will certainly get a makeover in comparison with its predecessor. Nonetheless, it is unclear whether or not the cellphone might be slimmer or lighter.
An improved inside display screen
Google’s subsequent foldable cellphone might use slimmer bezels and a much less noticeable crease in comparison with the Pixel Fold (pictured).
The Pixel Fold’s inside display screen might use an improve, significantly if Google needs to maintain up with Samsung. As I wrote in my assessment, the bezels framing the Pixel Fold’s show are noticeably thick, which might make that tablet-sized display screen really feel much less immersive. The crease can also be noticeable on the Pixel Fold, particularly alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and OnePlus Open.
I am skeptical that the crease will ever really disappear from foldable telephones on the whole, not simply these made by Google. However the extra discreet it’s, the extra it begins to really feel just like the phone-tablet hybrid it is meant to be.
The pictures on Google’s web site trace that the corporate has made some modifications to the bezel framing the display screen. Renders from serial tech leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer, which had been revealed on the weblog 91Mobiles and declare to indicate the Pixel 9 Professional Fold’s design, counsel that Google will certainly slim down the borders surrounding the inner show. However we’ll know extra as soon as Google proclaims the cellphone.
Extra years of software program updates
Google elevated its software program replace timeline with the Pixel 8 sequence. Let’s hope it does the identical with the Pixel 9 Professional Fold.
The Pixel Fold will get new variations of Android till 2026, roughly three years following its launch. It will additionally obtain safety updates for 5 years from its launch.
Nonetheless, Google raised the bar final 12 months when it assured seven years of Android updates for the Pixel 8 era, so I am hoping it continues that pattern with its subsequent foldable cellphone. A tool as costly because the $1,800 Pixel Fold ought to obtain updates for longer than three years. (Its versatile show and physique ought to final simply as lengthy, too.)
A lower cost
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 (pictured) is $100 dearer than final 12 months’s Galaxy Z Fold 5. Hopefully Google would not increase costs for its upcoming Pixel 9 Professional Fold.
There isn’t any sugarcoating it; foldable telephones are costly. That is very true for book-style foldable gadgets such because the Pixel Fold. Maybe it is unrealistic to assume that Google might make all of the enhancements listed above whereas additionally lowering the Pixel 9 Professional Fold’s value. Nonetheless, the Pixel Fold’s $1,800 value continues to be noticeably larger than the common promoting value for a smartphone in North America within the first quarter of 2023, which was $790 in keeping with Canalys.
Samsung, in the meantime, simply raised the value of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 by $100 in comparison with the Z Fold 5. If Google can proceed to undercut Samsung on value whereas introducing enhancements, the Pixel 9 Professional Fold might find yourself being the extra attractive choice.
We’ll know extra about Google’s subsequent foldable cellphone on Aug. 13. However I’ve obtained my fingers crossed for a sleeker design, thrilling software program options and a lower cost.