Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

This is the Google Pixel Fold, and it looks incredible

Google has truly, officially confirmed that its mythical foldable phone is real. After it appeared in a few dozen leaks, Google has announced that the Pixel Fold is right around the corner. Now, you won’t have to wait much longer to burn some cash on it, as the phone will be officially revealed on May 10.

For now, we only have a slick teaser video to gaze at. I’ve had little hope about the Pixel Fold’s design, but I’m having somewhat of an epiphany after seeing those shiny metallic sides and the two-tone metal-glass finish on the rear panel. It’s not really surprising, but the video makes the whole package look enticing.

✨May The Fold Be With You✨https://t.co/g6NUd1DcOJ#GoogleIO #PixelFold
May 10 pic.twitter.com/K8Gk21nmo8

— Made by Google (@madebygoogle) May 4, 2023

But what really caught my attention, going by the symmetry of the edges and the hinge design, is the possibility of a gapless design. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and its V-shaped wedge between the two halves, it looks like the Pixel Fold will embrace the no-gap look of the Oppo Find N2.

It looks better, but more importantly, the design blocks liquid and dust particles from lodging between the two halves of the phone. Leaked renders also suggest the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 5 will adopt a similar design in the coming months.

The Google Store has also put up a banner in anticipation of the launch. Unsurprisingly, that’s all Google is willing to reveal for now, saving the specifications and UI walkthrough part for the inaugural day of its I/O developers conference next week.

Unfortunately for Google, leaks have coughed up almost everything there is to know about the Pixel Fold. Google is reportedly going to ask around $1,700 for its foldable phone. That’s a lot of money, especially for a first-gen foldable phone and one with the Pixel brand name attached to it.

Front view of the Pixel Fold
Google

However, leaks suggest Google will serve the Pixel Watch as a freebie with the Pixel Fold, which sounds a tad more palatable from a buyer’s perspective. Google’s Tensor G2 chip will be powering the phone, while two OLED panels with 120Hz refresh rates will reportedly handle the content viewing part.

The primary camera on the back is rumored to be a 64-megapixel sensor that sits alongside a 12MP ultrawide snapper and a 10MP telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom output. However, other leaks are predicting a 48MP/10MP/10MP camera setup for the phone. We’ll find out the the details of the imaging hardware within the next few days.

Android 13 is going to run the show on the software side, but it will be interesting to see the Pixel-exclusive large-screen optimizations that Google may have in the pipeline. Preorders for the Pixel Fold are rumored to start by the end of May for the U.S., but it likely won’t get a wide international release. Thankfully, we don’t have too much longer to wait before everything is official.

Editors' Recommendations

Nadeem Sarwar
Nadeem is a tech journalist who started reading about cool smartphone tech out of curiosity and soon started writing…
Google is making it easier to ditch your iPhone for an Android phone
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro in hand.

Switching phones is never a smooth process, even if you’re switching between two different Android phones. However, when you’re trying to switch from an iPhone to Android or vice versa, it can be extra complicated -- and you can lose data and apps that you rely on. This is especially the case with Apple-to-Android transfers because the iPhone has a much stronger ecosystem lock-in with things like iMessage, iCloud backups, and exclusive apps like Overcast and Hyperlapse.

The good news is that with its Data Transfer Tool (also called Pixel Migrate on Pixel devices), Google may be trying to mitigate some of the phone-switching problems that arise -- specifically, losing access to your Live Photos. According to an APK teardown from Android Authority, Google’s Data Transfer Tool will finally resolve the problem of migrating iOS Live Photos to Android. It will do this by converting them over as Motion Photos.

Read more
World’s top folding phone maker revealed — and it’s not Samsung
A person folding up the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Data from analysts at Counterpoint Research has revealed that Samsung has lost its crown as the world’s top foldable smartphone brand based on the number of shipments. In the space of a year, Samsung has slipped from having a 58% share of shipments to 23%, and it's Huawei that has taken the top spot, overtaking it as the new leader with a 35% share of the folding phone market.

Losing the top spot is bad enough, but according to the dat,a Samsung is the only brand not to have shown any growth in foldable phone shipments over the past 12 months. While Huawei is now the top manufacturer by number of shipments, even it did not register the largest growth according to Counterpoint Research’s data. Instead, Motorola’s shipments grew by a massive 1,473% to take 11% of the market, and the company notes the Razr 2023 is its top model in North America.

Read more
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 may not have this important feature
A person holding the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, showing the top of the hinge.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 has just received FCC approval in the U.S. However, that's not the big news here. Instead, it’s news that the new upcoming foldable phone probably doesn't have a critical feature that is present on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Read more