If you were a smartphone reviewer in the US, the first-generation Pixel Fold would have delighted and frustrated you in equal measure. The reason was simple: while there was a lot going on, the experience was compromised. The processor was a generation behind the latest Pixel smartphones, which already weren't best in class, but the passport-style form factor caused app scaling issues and the phone just wouldn't open properly and was quite heavy.
The Pixel Fold, however, delighted one because of the software experience and unique size, which allowed for a normal-feeling external display and perhaps the best cameras seen in a foldable. Now, if Google were to improve on all these core aspects and fix some of the issues found in the original Fold, it would, in a normal scenario, have a killer product.
Before getting into this review, I have to say that Google has doubled down on what made the OG Pixel Fold awesome and fixed many of its core deficiencies, which easily make it my favourite foldable phone. But what makes me like it are quirky luxuries that only a smartphone reviewer could enjoy as I can whip out any phone I like at a given time.
The Competitive Landscape
Would these changes suffice to be good enough for the average consumer considering the competition has heated up and how?
The Pixel Pro 9 Fold isn't just Google's foray into the foldable market but also its first phone of this kind in India, which now has three really capable options - if you want to go with the tried and tested, there is the Galaxy Z Fold 6 by Samsung, and if you want a killer deal that also basically does 95 percent of what Samsung promises for 33 percent less while also providing one of the most pleasing form factors, you have the OnePlus Open. And if you're looking for hardware superiority and technical magnificence, then there is the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro. And we're not even talking about the Honor Magic V3 that tech YouTube is seemingly hyping up.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold has a lofty task and one that I don't feel is fully accomplished, but it remains Google's most polished offering yet, which sacrifices features but does provide a delightful experience. It provides a fascinating conundrum to the end customer, something that I will attempt to break down with this review.
Design Evolution
Google has changed the design of the Pixel Fold. It has moved away from the moleskine-style book type folding phone to a more traditional design. But this is not to say that it's gravitated toward the other extreme that Samsung has adopted, which makes the external screen very narrow and unusable for people who have big hands. In fact, that's what Google has focused on: making the phone easier to use for people with big hands while also retaining comfort for folks who have tiny hands. So they have made the screen taller while retaining the width. What you end up with is a 6.3-inch external screen which shares the exact dimensions as the Pixel 9 Pro. So this feels like a normal phone from the outside - more so than any foldable phone in the world. Sure, the bezels are huge, but that again makes the phone easier to handle for people with big hands while not increasing the size of the screen to obnoxious levels.
Build Quality and Form Factor
It also helps that this is the slimmest foldable in India at 10.5 mm, though it is heavy at 257 grams. The squared-off edges make the phone feel chunkier than it is, but I like the feel as the anodized aluminium feels very premium, so this feels like one of the most well-built folding phones around, like Samsung's product.
Adding to the stellar build quality is the excellent hinge design, which moves in a smooth and seamless manner but is able to hold position at different angles and doesn't have a rushing spring-like action. This results in a product that gets IPX8 water resistance and the largest internal screen on a foldable in India at 8 inches. There is a massive crease, however, but it's not as deep as the one on the Galaxy Z Fold 6. And it's offset by having a better screen than the Vivo foldable, which feels washed out in comparison.
Display Excellence
Google has really hit the spot with both the displays on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Google claims 2,700 nits of brightness on both the screens, which is slightly higher than what Samsung claims - and it feels pretty accurate. Of course, I've not tested it with a lux metre, so this is a test based on my visual acuity. That being said, the content on the screens felt brighter and more vivid than the Vivo, which claimed 4,500 nits of brightness.
I watched a bunch of content on this screen - the Italian GP F1 race, I wrote almost half this review on a flight while using the phone, browsed the web and watched shows on Prime Video and Netflix, and the experience was excellent.
These are very sturdy screens too. The external one gets Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and the folding screen on the inside has also been made stronger than the one on the original Pixel Fold.
This is rounded up with stereo speakers that are loud but clear, with punchy bass and well-sculpted mid-range response.
Google's foldable phone is certainly one of the better-engineered folding screen smartphones out on the market, blending ergonomics and usability with a big step up in build quality that is up there with the best in the business.
Software Experience
Pixel users have often loved Google's stock unadulterated take on Android. But with foldables, Samsung got the jump on the industry more so than Google, so its phones have software that feels more evolved with regard to foldable displays than Google's own software. So there are small things for productive ninjas that will irk them on the Pixel Pro 9 Fold. For instance, on a phone like the Galaxy Z Fold 6, one can open four apps side by side. OnePlus has gone one step beyond with its Open Canvas software, which pushes down an app below two floating apps and can be summoned on-demand. This execution has been much loved by users and reviewers like myself. Google is more barebones, as it only allows for side-by-side two apps to be opened at the same time.
The dock allows one to pin apps or it will automatically use machine learning to recommend apps on the basis of one's usage. There is a split-screen keyboard that works well, but my frustration with Google is that why doesn't the Gboard app offer to proofread or summarise text? For that, I had to install Microsoft's SwiftKey.
It is a very smooth and simple execution, but in terms of overall functionality, there is a less-is-more approach, but foldable users are often power users and they want features. This is where Google misses out compared to all the foldable phones in the market. That being said, it should be noted that Google is launching all the new Pixel smartphones with Android 14, not 15. Android 15 is expected in October, and I will update the article accordingly if there is a tweak or additions to the feature set or user interface.
AI Capabilities
Where the Pixel shines is in the realm of generative AI because Google is the quintessential AI company. So this phone comes with one year of free subscription of Gemini Advanced, which is Google's most advanced LLM. This also enables Gemini Live, which to me is the most realistic voice assistant out there but also lacks basic features like having the ability to set a timer.
But then there are other features like Pixel Studio that do a great job at generating images. The camera gets a bunch of GenAI features with an updated Magic Eraser, Zoom enhancement auto frame and reframe, and generative fill, which really can radically transform images.
Camera Performance
My favourite feature is the zoom enhancer, which I used extensively with the 10.5-megapixel telephoto lens, which is the same one as the previous Pixel fold. In my tests, I found that despite the older hardware, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold managed to outperform the camera of the Galaxy Z Fold 6; however, it couldn't match the cinematic quality of the Vivo X Fold 3. Zoom enhancer would ensure zoomed shots looked more detailed, but on human faces, it would introduce artefacts that just make the face look bad.
Generally, even the 48-megapixel primary camera, which gets an f/1.7 aperture, managed to take really detailed and attractive shots; however, Google is starting to get stiff competition from the likes of Vivo and Samsung in the portrait mode. I still liked Google's portrait mode, which is no-nonsense and almost always produces a good shot.
Similarly, the ultra-wide camera, apart from the deficiency in the resolution, which is also a paltry 10.5-megapixel, was able to take good shots with good lighting.
It is quite clear that Google's HDR+ technology has taken a step, which is propelling these image quality improvements. The star of the show for me was the new night sight panorama mode, which, apart from being really easy to use, just took stunning shots.
The selfie cameras are fine on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold — both 10-megapixel sensors are comparable to the competition. For me, I barely use them as I often use the rear camera and use the external display as the viewfinder, which ensures awesome selfies.
Videos are decent on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. I'd say it is a close second after Samsung, mostly if you use the new Video Boost AI technology, which uploads your videos to the Google cloud and reprocesses them with more details and generally better imaging characteristics — though the biggest gains come in low-light video. That being said, Google has further improved video, which is more stable with fewer colour shifting issues than in the past - but some of these issues remain.
Performance and Chipset
Many of these updates are made possible thanks to the new Tensor G4 chipset. Now, largely, this chipset is based on Samsung's Exynos processor from last year, which it also didn't use in any of its Galaxy smartphones. So Google has reduced the core counts but has added a beefier prime core, and overall it's an octa-core setup with minor improvements to overall CPU performance in single threads and negligible improvements to multi-threaded tasks. GPU also gets a boost, but the Android phones don't have as good AAA games as iPhone. So yes, you can run games like Call of Duty mobile at high settings with good graphics and frame rates, but you wouldn't be wowed with console-level games like Death Stranding that originally were for the PlayStation 5. This is not a chipset limitation; it's more of an Android ecosystem side effect.
The biggest gains changes have come to the tensor core, which is basically Google's nomenclature for the NPU or neural engine. Google says it has been co-designed with insights from the Google DeepMind team, its world-renowned AI group which has tuned it for generative AI, and sure it does stuff on device quite decently, but still most tasks are being done via the cloud, so this situation could evolve as some of these AI features start harnessing the power of the silicon.
In general day-to-day performance, this feels like the fastest Android phone I've used, with 16GB RAM coupled with 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. But when one starts editing video on these phones or starts transferring huge files over USB, that's when one realizes that this isn't the coolest cat in Android town.
It depends — if you're a content creator and want to edit a lot of video for reels, then this is perhaps not the best phone for you. But then again, foldable phones perhaps aren't the thing to choose. But if you need to write, edit text, send long emails, jump between several apps, then this could be the phone for you because of its slick and no-nonsense user interface.
Security and Connectivity
It also gets very secure thanks to the Titan M2 chipset, which is why the FBI uses the Pixel smartphones. There are also no call drop issues that have plagued previous Pixel models because there is an updated modem, which also enables satellite calling in markets like the US. I tested this phone on a Vodafone and Jio connection in India and in the US on roaming, and I found it to be faultless in this regard.
Battery Life and Charging
Often, the poor network quality has impacted the battery life of Pixel smartphones — this doesn't happen with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold; actually, neither of the Pixel 9 phones suffer from these issues because of the updates to the modem and also to the size of the battery itself. So here we are dealing with a 4,650mAh battery, which is decent though not the best. It is still bigger than the Samsung fold but smaller than the Vivo and OnePlus offerings. It charges at 21W wired and supports really lethargic 7.5W wireless charging. Though phones like the OnePlus Open don't even have the feature, so it is much appreciated. This phone can easily last a day on a full charge with heavy usage, but it will take its sweet time to charge.
Verdict
In a nutshell, Google has done a really solid job with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold — it is a hyper-refinement of an already much-loved phone. However, the competition certainly has taken a bigger step forward. The big issue is the limitations of Google's silicon, as a discerning user will expose its weaknesses; however, for most people, it will just do fine. Plus, the Google brand and its clean no-nonsense software with good security credentials should take it a long way, considering it has nailed the hardware that often was a stumbling block. At Rs 172,999, it is undeniably pricey, but it gets a Google-like polish unseen by most foldables.
