Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold review: A giant leap forward

Google’s authentic Pixel Fold was a little bit of an outlier, launching individually to the model’s different units, in between the Pixel 7 collection and Pixel 8 collection. It was Google’s most premium and costly handset ever, but only some months after its launch, it already felt outdated. It was rocking the Tensor G2, whereas the Pixel 8 units had the Tensor G3.

Then there was the design, which was in contrast to some other foldable available on the market, with a large, squat cowl display screen that was virtually passport-shaped. To not point out some huge bezels on the within display screen. Some liked it, however many weren’t so satisfied.

With the introduction of the Pixel 9 Professional Fold, the whole lot has modified. It’s now a part of the mainline Pixel 9 household, which implies the specs are bang updated, and it has a way more conventional form, virtually feeling like an everyday candybar handset when folded down.

On first impressions, it appears Google is doing the whole lot proper this time round, and it appears like a very premium flagship foldable. Nevertheless, the competitors is extra fierce than ever. Honor’s Magic V3 feels impossibly skinny and light-weight, whereas Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 is the model’s most refined folding handset thus far.

Does the Pixel 9 Professional Fold have what it takes to compete? I used to be decided to seek out out, and after utilizing it as my fundamental machine for the previous week, right here’s the whole lot I discovered.

Design & Construct

• 155.2 x 150.2 x 5.1 mm unfolded
• 162.5 x 75.8 x 8.9 mm folded
• IPX8 rated, 257g

The very first thing that struck me in regards to the Pixel 9 Professional Fold is how sturdy and well-made it feels. I’ve tried nearly each giant format foldable in 2024, and one thing in regards to the Pixel makes it really feel costlier and premium than the remaining.

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

It’s not the slimmest handset round, measuring just below 9mm thick when folded down, and it’s not the lightest both, at 257g. It’s nonetheless slimmer than the Z Fold 6, Samsung’s slimmest thus far, however I moved into this cellphone immediately after the Honor Magic V3, and it felt very chunky by comparability.

A part of that is because of the boxy, iPhone-like form. It matches the remainder of the Pixel 9 lineup, with flat aspect rails and flat shows, and I believe it appears nice. It’s virtually precisely the identical dimension because the common Pixel 9 Professional when folded, simply thicker, with a squared-off aspect for the hinge.

Because of this utilizing the quilt show feels extraordinarily pure. You don’t lose any top such as you did on the earlier Pixel Fold, and also you don’t have a cramped keyboard such as you do with the extra slender Z Fold 6.

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Not like the opposite Pixel 9 fashions, the Fold has a matt end on its aspect rails, and I a lot desire it. It’s a lot much less fingerprint-prone and nonetheless very grippy. Nevertheless, the hinge nonetheless has that high-gloss smudge magnet end as you’ll discover on the opposite telephones.

Talking of the hinge, it’s some of the spectacular that I’ve come throughout, solely rivalled by Samsung. It may be adjusted to virtually any angle with out snapping open or shut. It’s nice for whenever you’re attempting to border a photograph in tripod mode, or watching YouTube in flex mode.

Across the again, you get a flat frosted matt rear panel in both Porcelain (off-white) or Obsidian (darkish gray/black). The digital camera island is positioned on the high left, similar to the older Pixel Fold, and it’s not an rectangular bar form like the remainder of the Pixel household. It’s not as iconic, however I believe it nonetheless appears slightly fetching, and it’s large sufficient to not introduce wobble when it’s positioned on a desk.

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

One factor I simply couldn’t get used to on this cellphone is the positioning of the amount rocker. It’s actually low down, so turning the amount down requires some severe thumb gymnastics when utilizing the cellphone one-handed. These with smaller palms might not have as a lot bother, however I discovered it very annoying.

The haptics on this cellphone are incredible, and among the many finest you’ll discover on a foldable. The exact sturdy vibrations really feel nice whenever you’re typing shortly, and there’s a satisfying thunk whenever you toggle a setting on and off.

Display screen & Audio system

• Cowl: 6.3-inch, 1080 x 2424, 120Hz OLED, 2700 nits
• Foremost: 8-inch, 2076 x 2152, LTPO OLED, 1800 nits
• Stereo audio system

I’ve already touched on the quilt show dimensions, nevertheless it’s price repeating that this cellphone is sort of identically sized to the Pixel 9 Professional. Not like Samsung’s slender cowl show, utilizing this one doesn’t really feel like a compromised expertise, and there are only some tells that you simply aren’t coping with an everyday slab cellphone.

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Clearly, it’s a thicker and heavier cellphone, however the bezels on the quilt show are additionally a lot chunkier. It’s not one thing that actually bothered me in use, nevertheless it appears just a little dated in comparison with the competitors. It’s additionally not an LTPO panel, so the refresh fee solely shifts between 60- and 120Hz. Once more, it didn’t actually hassle me, nevertheless it’s an odd omission on the display screen prone to get essentially the most use.

Elsewhere, the quilt show left me with no complaints. The 2700 nit peak brightness was greater than sufficient to cope with direct daylight, and a completely flat panel meant no phantom touches or bizarre reflections to take care of.

On the within, there’s an enormous 8-inch foldable show, and this one is an LTPO panel. It’s not fairly as vibrant, peaking at 1800 nits, however I by no means had bother seeing it in all kinds of lighting situations.

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Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Google claims the 9 Professional Fold has the most important show on a foldable, and that is perhaps true within the US market, nevertheless it’s not the case for these of us with entry to handsets from Chinese language producers. It’s definitely bigger than the Z Fold 6, however I discovered that the Honor Magic V3 and Vivo X Fold 3 Professional each have bigger usable show area, because of the curvy corners and thicker bezels on the Pixel.

That mentioned, it’s nonetheless a splendidly spacious show that’s nice for multitasking and watching full-screen content material. I like that the selfie digital camera cut-out is tucked away within the nook, too, because it means it not often interrupts full-screen movies. It’s a way more modern-looking answer than its chunky bezel-ed predecessor, and personally, I discover it much less distracting than Samsung’s low-res patch that covers the under-display selfie digital camera.

The Pixel 9 Professional Fold truly folds flat, which is an improve in comparison with the earlier mannequin, which preferred to take a seat a slight V-shape. There’s nonetheless a fairly sizable crease and it’s extra noticeable than a few of its rivals because of a high-gloss display screen protector. I do assume it’s higher than Samsung’s crease, however subsequent to the Honor Magic V3, it’s not essentially the most spectacular.

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Luke Baker

Luke Baker

The positioning of the audio system makes it really feel just like the cellphone is designed to be held in portrait orientation, with the fold operating down the centre, whereas a number of my different foldables encourage you to flip the cellphone into panorama mode. I say this as a result of one speaker is sort of all the time muffled by my palm in panorama mode, and the almost-square side ratio signifies that 16:9 content material doesn’t get a lot bigger whenever you rotate it. That’s positive by me, it’s rather more handy than spinning it round. 

The audio system can get extraordinarily loud and so they sound excellent, with extra low-end response than your typical cellphone. They commerce blows with the Z Fold 6 audio system, though Samsung usually pulls forward barely with the bass frequencies.

Specs & Efficiency

• Google Tensor G4
• 16GB RAM
• 256GB / 512GB storage

The Pixel 9 Professional Fold runs on Google’s fourth-generation Tensor G4 chip, similar to the remainder of the Pixel 9 collection. It’s well-documented at this level that this processor isn’t an enormous improve over the past technology Tensor G3, a minimum of outdoors of some very particular AI-based workloads.

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Luke Baker

Luke Baker

It’s paired with a decent 16GB of RAM and both 256GB or 512GB of storage. Fortunately, Google selected to forego the 128GB choice on this mannequin.

Entering into with this information, I wasn’t anticipating an excessive amount of within the efficiency division, however I used to be pleasantly stunned. In day-to-day use, scrolling social media, messaging and consuming content material, the Pixel 9 Professional Fold feels lightning-quick.

No matter Google is doing to squeeze essentially the most out of this chip is clearly working, and whether or not it’s a trick of the animation model or some intelligent optimisation, navigating the OS feels snappier and extra responsive than the expertise with most rival units.

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

In benchmarks, nevertheless, we are able to clearly see that Google is just a few steps behind flagships with Qualcomm and its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. For that purpose, the Pixel 9 Professional Fold is unlikely to be the best choice for eager avid gamers.

That mentioned, the machine can nonetheless play video games properly, even graphically difficult ones. I discovered that Zenless Zone Zero would run pretty easily at 30fps with max graphic settings, nevertheless after I tried pushing it to 60fps there have been loads of body drops and stutters to bitter the expertise.

I used to be additionally impressed by the thermal efficiency. It does get heat when taking part in GPU-heavy video games, after all, nevertheless it by no means acquired too scorching or uncomfortable to carry, which is all you’ll be able to actually ask for.

Google Pixel 9 Professional Fold benchmarks

Cameras

• 48Mp fundamental digital camera
• 10.5Mp ultrawide
• 10.8Mp 5x periscope telephoto
• 10Mp selfie digital camera

Pixel telephones are well-known for his or her photographic capabilities, however in distinction to another manufacturers, many of the prowess comes from picture processing, slightly than cutting-edge {hardware}. Within the case of the Pixel 9 Professional Fold, there are not any {hardware} upgrades for the digital camera system, however that may not matter a lot.

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Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Nonetheless, it means you might have some very low-resolution sensors within the lineup. Solely the primary digital camera sports activities a 48Mp decision, whereas the others all hover across the 10Mp mark. They’re all fairly small sensors, too, particularly when in comparison with Chinese language manufacturers like Honor and Vivo. This implies the Pixel has to depend on night time mode and noise discount extra closely when capturing in low-light situations.

Within the day, photographs from the Pixel 9 Professional Fold have the signature Pixel allure – they appear vibrant, sharp and detailed, with wonderful dynamic vary. It’s a slight step down in high quality in comparison with the mainline Pixel snappers, however outcomes are related sufficient, and it’s simply as dependable as a point-and-shoot digital camera for social media posts.

When it will get darker, the primary digital camera is the best way to go. It produces the sharpest photographs with essentially the most element, in the meantime, the telephoto and ultrawide cameras look just a little gentle and are very liable to movement blur. I think the muddiness comes from over-active noise discount, as in video mode, these sensors look fairly grainy, however in pictures, all of it disappears.

There are two selfie cameras with equivalent specs, they’re each 10Mp punch-hole items and neither has autofocus. These cameras are ok for video calls however I discovered them unimpressive for pictures. Plenty of my snaps got here out trying washed-out, and low-light pictures usually regarded blurry. The excellent news is that this can be a foldable, so it’s simply as straightforward to take selfies utilizing the vastly superior fundamental digital camera.

One factor I want Google would spend a while enhancing is its portrait mode. It feels very restricted on this cellphone, particularly in comparison with the Honor Magic V3. It solely works on the primary digital camera, and it all the time applies a minimum of a 1.5x crop to the picture. There are not any filters, no management over the quantity of blur, and the topic detection is just a little hit-and-miss.

One of many new Fold-exclusive options is one thing referred to as “Made you look”. It makes use of the quilt display screen to show animated cartoon characters to draw the eye of infants and toddlers. I believed this was going to be a gimmick, however after I tried it with my pal’s child, I used to be amazed.

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

The child instantly stopped operating round and was glued to the display screen, making it tremendous straightforward to seize some footage. Sadly, that’s the place I additionally realised this mode’s huge shortcoming. It makes use of the quilt display screen selfie digital camera slightly than the primary digital camera. It is sensible, as that’s the place the kid shall be trying, and that’s positive within the day, however I used to be in a dimly lit restaurant, so my pictures have been a blurry mess.

After all, you get all the opposite Pixel-exclusive photograph options on this cellphone, too, together with the brand new Add Me function, together with post-processing tweaks like Greatest Take, Photograph Unblur and Tremendous Res Zoom. 

Add Me appears to work simply as properly on this cellphone because it does on the opposite Pixels, however I can’t assist however really feel it’s a bit over-complicated. In any case, it appears a lot simpler to snap a gaggle selfie, ask a stranger to take an image or use the cellphone’s personal built-in tripod mode. Should you fancy cloning your self, although, that is a straightforward method to take action.

Battery Life & Charging

• 4650mAh battery
• 21W charging
• 7.5W wi-fi charging 

The Pixel 9 Professional Fold homes a 4650 mAh battery pack, simply managing to outdo the chunkier Galaxy Z Fold 6’s 4400 mAh capability. However with bigger and brighter screens on board, will that end in higher real-world battery life?

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Luke Baker

Luke Baker

In my expertise, sure, however solely barely. A median day noticed me going to mattress with round 20-30% left within the tank, however after I spent an hour or so gaming or took a number of pictures, that determine was considerably decreased. All through my testing, I by no means wanted a mid-day top-up, however anticipate to cost each night time with out fail.

There’s no charger included within the field, only a USB-C cable, and the charging speeds are actually underwhelming. I’ve spent loads of time moaning in regards to the Z Fold 6′s sluggish charging, however by some means the Pixel 9 Professional Fold manages to be even slower, maxing out at a measly 21W with a wire and simply 7.5W wirelessly.

In real-world phrases, meaning a 50% cost will take simply over half an hour, whereas a full cost is prone to take round an hour and 40 minutes. On the plus aspect, the OS has battery well being measures built-in, which means you’ll be able to go away it plugged in in a single day with out worry.

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Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Software program & Apps

• Android 14
• Gemini AI options
• New Screenshots, Climate and Pixel Studio apps

Like the remainder of this 12 months’s Pixel lineup, the Pixel 9 Professional Fold launched upfront of Android 15, so it’s operating Android 14 as an alternative. Nevertheless, that doesn’t imply there’s nothing new right here, quite the opposite, Google has added three new first-party apps, in addition to a slew of additional AI-powered enhancements.

Most of what you’ll discover right here is equivalent to the opposite Pixel 9-series units, and Pixel 8 fashions, too. With this being a large-format foldable, although, the multitasking expertise is rather more necessary.

For essentially the most half, I like the best way Google has approached this. It’s fast and simple to grasp the break up display screen mode, and it’s easy to arrange your most typical app pairings, too. 

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Luke Baker

Luke Baker

The issue is that it’s barely too simplistic. With no help for floating home windows, you’re caught with a most of two apps side-by-side in split-screen mode. Different manufacturers are doing extra right here, and Google must step its sport up if it needs the Fold to be a real productiveness powerhouse.

In any other case, I just like the Pixel UI. It’s utterly free from bloatware, it feels fast and responsive, and there are good quality-of-life options in-built. I like the Now Enjoying function that permits you to know what music is taking part in in your lock display screen, the combination with Google Residence is superb, too. On the flip aspect, there are some very fundamental options that the Pixel interface continues to be missing, like the power to maneuver apps round in bulk.

Google spent a number of the Pixel 9 launch occasion speaking about its new Gemini-powered AI options, and a few of them are actually spectacular. At instances, speaking to Gemini Stay appears like a glimpse into the long run – however the issue is, it’s not a Pixel function. 

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

Luke Baker

I can do the identical factor on most different Android telephones, and I’ve. Pixel homeowners get a 1-year free trial of Gemini Superior to strive it, however as soon as it’s up, Google’s asking for a £18.99/$20 per thirty days subscription that I’m positive most can do with out.

The three new apps have various levels of usefulness, and I’m just a little miffed about them being separate apps. As an example, I believe the Screenshots app is kind of helpful, however I don’t see why it couldn’t be built-in into Google Images. The identical goes for the brand new Climate app, which could be very fairly, however I have already got a climate app that I like, and I don’t want an additional non-deleteable model.

One factor that I do love is Circle to Search. It’s nothing new, we’ve seen it on all of this 12 months’s Samsung flagships and Google units, nevertheless it’s nice and I miss it when it’s not there.

One other huge promoting level is the seven years of each OS and safety updates that Google presents. It’s not the one foldable with this promise – the Galaxy Z Fold 6 has equivalent help – however nonetheless very spectacular.

Value & Availability

The Google Pixel 9 Professional Fold is obtainable to buy now in most areas throughout the globe. Should you purchase it outright, the 256GB mannequin will value you £1,749/ $1,799 whereas the 512GB mannequin goes for £1,869/$1,919. It’s definitely not low-cost, however this can be a giant format foldable, and this type of pricing comes with the territory.

Should you’re paying upfront, you’ll be able to seize the cellphone from the Google Retailer in UK and US, in addition to Amazon UK and Amazon US. After all, there are many contract offers that may assist to unfold the fee.

We’ve rounded up each in our greatest Pixel 9 offers article, however extra contract choices can be found under:

Must you purchase the Google Pixel 9 Professional Fold?

I’ve liked residing with the Pixel 9 Professional Fold, it’s such an enormous enchancment on the earlier mannequin and some of the polished and premium-feeling foldable handsets available on the market at present. Regardless of having a slower processor and fewer software program options, I nonetheless desire it over the Galaxy Z Fold 6. If we’re solely speaking about telephones that you could purchase within the US, then it’s extraordinarily straightforward to suggest.

Within the UK, nevertheless, Honor has the Magic V3, which bests the Pixel in virtually each space and comes at a decrease value. Certain, its AI options is probably not fairly as superior, however I discovered the digital camera extra spectacular, it’s faster, has a much bigger battery, sooner charging and extra storage – all for about £100 much less.

That mentioned, the Pixel does have its charms, and if you happen to love the bloat-free Pixel expertise, the Honor machine is not any substitute. It has an extended help time period and shall be one of many first units to get all of the goodies that include Android 15, too. It won’t be the very best {hardware} obtainable, nevertheless it’s nonetheless probably the greatest folding telephones.

Specs

• Android 14
• Cowl: 6.3-inch, 1080 x 2424, OLED, 120Hz
• Foremost: 8-inch, 2076 x 2152, LTPO OLED, 120Hz
• Aspect-mounted fingerprint sensor
• Google Tensor G4
• 16GB RAM
• 256GB / 512GB storage
• Cameras:
  • 48Mp fundamental digital camera
  • 10.5Mp ultrawide
  • 10.8Mp 5x periscope telephoto
  • 2x 10Mp selfie cameras
• As much as 4K @ 60fps rear video
• Stereo audio system
• Twin-SIM + eSIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be
• Bluetooth 5.3
• 4650mAh battery
• 21W charging
• 7.5W wi-fi charging 
• 155.2 x 77.1 x 10.5 mm (folded)
• IPX8 licensed
• 257g
• Colors: Porcelain, Obsidian