REVIEW: Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold

I’ve been curiously watching the folding phone market evolve since its inception, and I now really believe they’re ready for mainstream consumers. That’s not to say the earlier models were subpar, they just weren’t as refined as regular smartphones. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is Google’s second generation foldable device (though the first to make it to Ireland), and there’s plenty to discuss.

Design & Build Quality

Since everything was covered in the launch article, I won’t delve into the specifics of the specs here. Instead, I’ll focus more on the physical hardware—its look, feel, and user experience. Without getting into excessive detail, let’s start with the physical dimensions. When folded, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold measures 155.2 x 77.1 x 10.5 mm. When unfolded, it measures 155.2 x 150.2 x 5.1 mm.

Initially, I was surprised at how little adjustment was needed to transition from a standard phone to a folding device. Credit to the Google design team for creating a phone that functions well as a standard device while still promoting the use of the larger screen.

Given how much is packed in, it’s surprisingly light, responsive, and useful for productivity without being the size and weight of a laptop. It’s not just the internal 8″ screen that performs well; the external screen is also impressive, providing an excellent user interface. Perhaps the only let-down is that the external screen’s refresh rate (60-120Hz) isn’t as broad as the internal one (1-120Hz).

When it comes to security, the power button on the right hand side of the device also include the fingerprint scanner which is nice and fast but there’s also the option of face unlock via both the external front facing camera and internal selfie camera, so lots of options to securely unlock your device.

The overall design is extremely elegant and feels very well built. The hinge mechanism is smooth, closing the internal display with a satisfying tap when folded. Yes, the camera bar is slightly prominent, but it makes sense when we discuss the type of shots you can capture on such a slim foldable—more on that in our camera section below.

Displays

On the exterior, the phone has a 6.3” OLED Actua display with a 1080 x 2424 resolution. When using the phone closed, it feels like a standard smartphone, which is great. It doesn’t feel compromised even in its closed position, making it ideal for quickly scrolling through social media or replying to a text.

When opened, you have a massive 8” OLED Super Actua internal display with an almost perfectly square 2076 x 2152 resolution. Both screens are a significant improvement on the original, with a peak brightness of 2700 nits.

The crease on the internal display, while not entirely invisible, is far less noticeable when the device is flat and viewed straight on. With content displayed, you almost forget it’s there.

Performance

Much like the Pixel 9 Pro XL review a few weeks ago, the performance of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is incredibly fast and consistent, thanks to the Tensor G4 and a hefty 16GB of RAM. From a connectivity perspective, it’s good to see that 5G, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.3 are all included, offering the best of all options.

Multitasking on the larger internal display also worked exceptionally well, with split-screening being a particularly useful feature for foldables like this. We do wish there was an option to pop out a third, floating app, as some other foldables do, but this is only relevant in a few cases.

Cameras

I’m not going to revisit the features covered in our Pixel 9 Pro XL review, such as Magic Editor, Zoom Enhance, and some of the AI photo enhancements. Saying that, not all of the newly launched features on the non-folding Pro models make their way to the 9 Pro Fold unfortunately with Super Res Zoom Video via Video Boost not available and we’re also missing the option to capture 8K video via Video Boost as well. What’s done well here are some of the specific features tailored to the folding device, like ‘Made You Look’, which is a simple but effective way of capturing the attention of little ones by using the outer screen to display cartoon figures to the photo subjects.

It’s worth noting, though, that when using this mode, you’re actually using the external selfie camera on the other display, not the main rear camera. This is important if you want to capture these shots in the highest quality.

a ‘Rear Camera Selfie’ from the Pixel 9 Pro Fold | TheEffect.Net

You can also use the outer screen for Dual Screen Preview, where the outer screen acts as a preview for the subjects of your photos. An additional feature is the rear camera selfie mode, which lets you better frame your shot. However, holding the phone at ‘selfie’ arm’s length can be tricky, so it’s advisable to enable the timer for this mode to give you time to adjust the phone after pressing the shutter button.

A couple of highlights I’ve enjoyed include the Audio Magic Eraser, which allows you to filter out background noise in your videos. Whether it’s wind, cars, general distractions, or even reducing the impact of a passing emergency vehicle, it’s straightforward to use.

I’m also impressed with the unit’s panorama capabilities, providing flexibility to capture wide scenes while utilising the screen’s expansive space to enjoy your photos. The wide angle lens also captures nice levels of details, right up to the edges but does succumb to slightly increased noise in challenging lighting conditions.

The 20x zoom is also impressive given that device itself caps out at 5x optical zoom so the rest is Google’s AI camera wizardry.

Overall, the triple-camera setup is very impressive, considering it’s packed into such a slim, foldable form factor. However, there’s some debate over the fact that, once again, the most expensive device in a manufacturer’s line-up doesn’t offer the best camera experience. (The Pixel 9 Pro XL takes better photos due to its more advanced camera setup).

It really comes down to what you value more: if you’re someone who benefits from a device that excels in multitasking, media consumption, and productivity, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold with its still impressive camera setup will be fantastic. But if you’re after the absolute best camera experience on a Pixel device, the Pixel 9 Pro/Pro XL is the better choice.

Battery Life

While it’s still relatively early to gauge overall battery endurance, during the initial setup and while installing/updating apps, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold performed admirably. Over the last weekend, I had several hours of screen-on time while streaming content and doing other things on the phone. During this time, the battery life was consistent, and impressively, even with extended screen time, it lasted until bedtime.

Of course, if you try hard enough, you could drain the battery and need to recharge before the day ends. If that happens, the charging is decent, offering several hours of screen time from a half-hour charge.

Google states that charging speeds are 21W for wired charging and 7.5W for wireless, which are the slowest of all the newly launched 9 series devices. However, in everyday use, it’s not a huge issue. Using a 30W or 45W adaptive charger (to achieve max 21W charging speeds) will give you plenty of battery life if you leave it plugged in for an hour or so. From our testing, it took about 1 hour 40 minutes to charge from 1% to 100%.

Conclusion

After considering everything, if I needed a new phone and also wanted a small tablet, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold would fit the bill. When you factor in the cost of both a tablet and a phone, this isn’t bad value for money.

Looking at its features and capabilities, there’s so much to genuinely like about the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. This is the first folding phone I’d seriously consider using daily as a long-term solution. The performance is top-notch, the screens are stunning, and the feature set is extensive.

It’s a truly remarkable tool for productivity and is impressively versatile for entertainment. It’s certainly not cheap, but if it’s within your budget and you feel you’ll make full use of what the 9 Pro Fold offers, it’s very easy to recommend given how well everything works together.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold Pricing & Availability

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is available on the Google Store, starting at €1,919 for the 256GB/16GB model. It comes in two colours, Porcelain (the model we reviewed) and Obsidian.