Folding phones have been available for the past few years, but they still make up a rather small corner of the mobile market. One major factor is price, as many foldables are at least $1,800. Though Samsung has been making folding phones longer than anyone else, Google released its first foldable last year with the Pixel Fold.
At the time, and for the company’s first attempt, the Google Pixel Fold was a pretty solid folding phone. But not long after that, OnePlus also emerged int the foldable space with its first foldable, the OnePlus Open — and it became a hit.
I decided to try using the Pixel Fold again a year after its original launch, and after having also used the OnePlus Open and much preferring that device. So, how does the Google Pixel Fold hold up all this time later? It’s complicated.
What I still like about the Google Pixel Fold
When the Google Pixel Fold was first revealed, I was pretty excited about it. I’ve been a fan of Google’s Pixel devices because of the stock Android experience and the fact that they tend to take pretty good photos. Though I’m not as in love with the Google Pixel Fold as I was when I first started using it, there are still good things about it.
The cover display on the Google Pixel Fold is still one of my favorite parts about using the phone. Google chose a 5.8-inch cover display for the Pixel Fold, which I find very usable. I had missed the size of the iPhone XS display, which is also 5.8 inches, so going back to something similar on the Pixel Fold is always a treat. I have more petite hands than most people, so the 5.8-inch size is much more usable for me when I want to navigate the phone with one hand.
The Pixel Fold’s cover display feels like a regular phone to me, so it’s also easy to type on. That’s unlike the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, which is tall and narrow, resulting in a smaller, more cramped keyboard that I often make a lot of typos on.
Though I like the OnePlus Open hinge that makes it easy to open it fully flat, it is a bit looser, making it hard to use in clamshell mode (like a mini laptop). The Pixel Fold, on the other hand, has a nice and firm hinge that doesn’t just spring open. It can hold its position pretty well, as it requires more force to have it completely flat. It’s a double-edged sword, but it offers more versatility.
One of the annoying things about the Android platform as a whole is the fact that not every app is optimized for large screens, whether that’s a foldable or a tablet. It is an issue that is more prevalent on Android than iOS, at least from my experience.
On the Google Pixel Fold, Google optimized its first-party apps to take advantage of the larger screen size offered by the foldable. However, since the Pixel Fold uses a horizontal/landscape orientation on the inner display (other foldables use a vertical orientation), this affected how third-party apps appeared when the Pixel Fold originally launched. You would have black bars on the side of the app, or maybe the app would take up half or two-thirds of the screen.
Thankfully, it appears that Google has fixed this issue. Google has added a new experimental setting in the Apps section of the Settings app, appropriately named “Aspect Ratio.” This setting needs to be enabled on an app-by-app basis. Every app will be set on the “App default,” and you’ll have to toggle the full-screen option for each one as you go. I do wish that there was a way to just have a blanket setting to enable full screen for all apps in one go, but this is an improvement over before. It’s also in the experimental stages right now, so it may change before it’s finalized.
What I don’t like about the Google Pixel Fold
As I used the Google Pixel Fold this time around, I noticed more things that I simply don’t care for about the phone.
While I like the size, I hate how heavy the Pixel Fold is — 283 grams. To compare, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is only 253 grams, while the OnePlus Open and Galaxy Z Fold 6 are just 239 grams. The 5.8-inch cover display is great for me to use one-handed, but I can’t do it for long simply because the Pixel Fold just weighs so damn much.
I’ve also used the Pixel Fold to take product photos of other phones in my hand, and the weight makes that hard when I’m trying to do it with one hand, especially as I try to reach the shutter button. I really hope that Google makes the next-generation Pixel Fold lighter because it’s a big flaw right now.
After I used the OnePlus Open with its anti-reflective inner display, I found the Google Pixel Fold’s display to be a little hard to use. It’s very reflective, unfortunately, and when you combine it with the maximum 1,450 nits peak brightness, it’s rather difficult to see when you’re outdoors. And while it’s due to the design of the hinge, the chunky bezels on the inner display are, well, a bit unsightly. This is another area that Google needs to focus on improving with the next version.
Another issue that people may have with foldable devices is the crease on the inner display. While companies try their best to mitigate the visibility and feel of the crease, it’s always going to be there. Unfortunately, with the Pixel Fold, the crease is quite prominent, both in look and feel.
It’s not like it’s impossible to reduce the crease. After all, Motorola’s latest Razr phones — such as the Razr Plus 2024 — have a virtually nonexistent crease, so why can’t Google do the same with the Pixel Fold? I hope the Pixel Fold 2’s crease is drastically reduced.
The Pixel Fold did not age well
When the Google Pixel Fold launched, it was before the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and OnePlus Open came out. Before those competing devices, the Pixel Fold was the only foldable that did not have a gap when closed, which was an advantage. But the Galaxy Z Fold 5, the Galaxy Z Fold 6, and the OnePlus Open have since arrived, and they are also all gapless when closed, plus they also have other advantages over the Pixel Fold.
That’s all to say that it’s hard to recommend the Pixel Fold at this point. It’s still a perfectly fine folding phone, but given that competitors have much better options available — and that Google will likely announce a new Pixel Fold in August — the original Pixel Fold just doesn’t really make sense anymore.