Release Date, Price, Design & Specs
After the launch of the Google Pixel Fold last year, you might be expecting the Pixel Fold 2 this year. Well, it’s coming, but that’s certainly not what it’s called.
Instead, Google has confirmed that this year’s foldable will be called the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and it’s due to make its debut at the upcoming Made By Google event in August.
However, with a combination of official Google teasers and a roster of leaks and rumors, we already have a pretty good idea of what the Pixel 9 Pro Fold will offer – and even when it’ll be released.
Here’s everything there is to know about the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold so far, from release date and pricing speculation to the latest rumors and leaked images.
If you’re curious about the rest of the flagship range, take a look at all you need to know about the Google Pixel 9 range.
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold: At a glance
- Announcement on 13 August, but may not go on sale until September
- Completely refreshed design with narrower outer screen and boxier inner screen
- Tensor G4 chipset based on Samsung’s Exynos 2400 chipset
- New Google AI smarts including on-device Google Gemini support
- Might not ship with Android 15 at release
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold rumored release date and pricing
- Reveal set for 13 August
- Foldable might not go on sale until September
- Rumored to match the Pixel Fold pricing
Flagship Pixels tend to launch in October – that has been the case for every flagship Pixel, bar the Pixel 5. Google seems to be switching things up this year though, with the next Made By Google event confirmed to take place on 13 August.
In fact, Google has already confirmed that we’ll be seeing both the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro Fold at the event, and it’s assumed that the regular Pixel 9 and new Pixel 9 XL will also make their debut.
However, reports suggest that while the candybar Pixel 9 collection will be available to buy on 22 August, it’s claimed that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold won’t go on sale until 4 September.
When it comes to pricing, the ever-accurate OnLeaks suggests that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold will cost the same as last year’s Pixel Fold. It’s not exactly a cheap phone, clocking in at £1749/$1799, but at least it’s not getting more expensive this year – if the rumor is true, of course.
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold design and screen rumors
- Redesigned look to match the rest of the Pixel 9 range
- Boxier 8-inch foldable screen
- To be available in Porcelain and Obsidian
The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold looks to be getting quite the upgrade compared to the Pixel Fold, and that starts with the design.
As we’ve seen from official Google teasers, the new foldable looks completely different from the first-gen foldable, with what looks to be flat edges, rounded corners and a completely redesigned camera bump to stay in line with the rest of the redesigned Pixel 9 collection.
If that wasn’t enough, a German-speaking Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold promo video leaked in early August gives us our clearest look at the foldable yet.
It shows off the aforementioned design changes, a redesigned hinge that allows it to open completely flat – a complaint we had with the first-gen device – and we even get to see the colour options, Obsidian and Porcelain.
There’s also a bevvy of leaked photos (and even official Taiwanese regulatory images) that provide a real-world look at the upcoming foldable, showcasing new features like a narrower, taller screen and the adoption of a square-ish aspect ratio on the inner foldable screen – not too dissimilar from the foldable competition like the OnePlus Open.
A separate leak, from screen expert Ross Young, gets more specific on screen sizes, suggesting a 6.29-inch cover screen and an 8.02-inch foldable screen.
It’s also said to be skinnier than the frankly chunky Pixel Fold, measuring in at 10.5mm folded and 5.5mm when unfolded, but it’s still a pretty heavy foldable, allegedly weighing in at 257g. That is an improvement on the 283g first-gen device, but it’s still well behind much of the foldable competition that ranges from 239g to 226g.
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold camera rumors
- Small upgrades to the camera setup
- New 64MP main camera
- Internal selfie camera is now in top-right
With such sweeping upgrades to the design, there are only relatively minor changes to the foldable’s camera setup – if an Android Authority exclusive turns out to be accurate, anyway.
The leak suggests that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold could feature an upgraded 64MP main camera, up from 48MP on the original, along with an upgraded 12MP ultrawide, though the telephoto lens looks to be pretty similar to the first-gen foldable.
There’s also said to be a new 10MP selfie camera, and although we don’t have details on the internal panel, leaked images suggest it has moved to the top-right corner.
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold performance and software rumors
- Tensor G4 based on Samsung’s Exynos 2400
- New on-device AI features
- Might not ship with Android 15 – at first, anyway
While there were rumors that this would be the year that Google would finally create its Tensor chipset in-house, rumors suggest delays have waylaid this plan. In its place, the upcoming Tensor G4 expected to be used across the entire Pixel 9 range is said to be based on Samsung’s Exynos 2400 – the same chipset used in the Galaxy S24 in the UK and other European regions.
That means that performance won’t be quite in line with the Snapdragon competition, as with previous entries in the Tensor collection, but it does usually do a pretty damn good job at handling AI tasks – and there are plenty of new additions on that front this year.
Rumored new AI features include on-device support for Google Gemini, allowing for faster, more secure responses to your queries, Add Me, a way for you to add people into group shots, AI Studio that lets you generate images from text, and Pixel Screenshots, a way for Gemini to search for content within screenshots you’ve captured on your phone.
AI aside, other rumored software improvements coming to this year’s foldable include an improved multitasking mode that finally lets users run two apps side-by-side in portrait mode.
For reference, the regular Pixel Fold would only let you run two apps in a top-bottom configuration in its Portrait orientation, which should allow apps to work better on the rumored square aspect ratio of this year’s foldable.
The biggest surprise about the Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s software is that it might not be running Android 15 out of the box from day one. Rumors claim that, due to this year’s launch being brought forward by two months, Android 15 simply isn’t ready to be rolled out to devices just yet.
Instead, it’s claimed that the Pixel 9 range will initially ship with Android 14, before getting the update sometime in September. If true, that’d mark the first time that Google has ever shipped a phone with year-old software, though it’s only the earliest adopters of the phone that’ll experience it.
Trusted Take: What we think the Google Pixel 9 Pro needs
We reviewed the Google Pixel Fold at launch in 2023, and while Google made valiant efforts to create a competitive book-style foldable, we felt that it fell well short in several key areas.
The general design was a little too thick and heavy, and the phone wouldn’t actually unfold flat. Combined with a notable crease on the inner foldable display, aspect ratio issues that meant apps wouldn’t display properly and hit-and-miss battery life, it was hard to recommend – especially at £1749/$1799.
With all that in mind, it seems like Google is fixing those big complaints with this second-gen foldable. We’ve already got an official look at the foldable ahead of its full announcement, confirming a redesigned form factor, including a tweaked aspect ratio for both its inner and outer displays.
We were also a tad confused as the Pixel Fold came with the Tensor G2 chipset, when the rest of the Pixel 8 collection – launched just months later – came with the next-gen G3. It felt a little out of place on such a premium bit of kit.
Again, Google is looking to rectify this with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, launching it at the same time as the rest of the flagship collection to make sure it benefits from the latest processing tech.
There are other key areas of the experience that we felt needed improvement, including rather poor battery life, that we feel the Pixel 9 Pro Fold needs to solve if Google wants to compete in an ever-increasingly cramped 2024 foldable market, but it’s certainly looking good based on what we know so far.
Source: www.trustedreviews.com
