ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold begins at $1,799, with 256GB of storage and 16GB of RAM.
- It includes a slimmer and taller design, a large eight-inch inner show, and a extra succesful Tensor G4 chip.
- Regardless of the value and branding, the digital camera system would not match the opposite Pixel 9 Professional telephones.
If my week of testing the brand new Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold has taught me something, it is that sequels can, the truth is, be higher than the unique. After a rocky begin with final yr’s Pixel Fold, Google has gone again to the drafting board, etched out a brand new foldable that’s extra polished, user-friendly, and feature-packed, and is hoping that you will purchase into its $1,799 grasp plan once more. For me… it nearly succeeds.
It is solely been every week, so I am not 100% offered on Google’s foldable telephone simply but. Nonetheless, after re-using the Pixel Fold in preparation for this assessment, the Pixel 9 Professional Fold feels a lot simpler to advocate to lovers than its predecessor, with upgrades in arguably each approach, from the slimmer, taller show to the brighter panels to the Tensor G4 chip that powers Google’s different flagship phones this yr.
These three features alone could also be sufficient to entice Pixel Fold users to make the switch. I actually would.
Additionally: I replaced my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra with the Pixel 9 Pro XL for two weeks – and can’t go back
In fact, the brand new look will not be everybody’s cup of tea, particularly if you happen to desire the shorter, boxier design of final yr’s model. Google likes to match the Pixel 9 Professional Fold with the Pixel 9 Pro, each of which area 6.3-inch Tremendous Actua shows.
When you issue within the former’s facet hinge, thicker bezels, and folded display, nevertheless, the 2 do not feel as shut because the numbers recommend. I would not name the Pixel 9 Professional Fold an incredible one-handed machine, however its skinny design — which supplies me Microsoft Surface Duo vibes — actually helps.
The Pixel 9 Professional Fold’s thinness additionally helps make the eight-inch inner show all of the extra superb when unfolded. That is the closest you will ever come to the “pill in your pocket” dream.
I do know we’re speaking decimal factors between the Pixel, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6, and the OnePlus Open, however the dimensions of the Google telephone actually really feel like an Android pill when open, and I find it irresistible for streaming YouTube movies and TV exhibits, taking part in video games, and multitasking.
Additionally: Why the $799 Google Pixel 9 is the real star of this year’s Android phone lineup
Discover I did not point out “films” in that sequence. That is as a result of the broader, 21:9 facet ratio of most movies means the letterboxing (black bars that fill any useless area) on the Pixel 9 Professional Fold’s squarish show is very outstanding. It is more-letterboxing-than-the-actual-video outstanding.
Happily, the audio system are loud and clear, and the power to unfold utterly flat means the middle crease is much less noticeable this yr, lowering any visible distraction.
For multitasking, you are restricted to split-screening two apps, with Google nonetheless towards you having three or extra apps open without delay — whether or not via cut up layouts or floating home windows. This stays the Pixel’s greatest setback towards competing phone-to-tablet foldables, particularly when Samsung and OnePlus are being extra adventurous with their big-screen capabilities. Due to this limitation, the Tensor G4 chip naturally handles essentially the most “extraneous” workflows on this machine.
That is to not say that Google is not attempting with the Pixel 9 Professional Fold. The 16GB of RAM, Tensor G4 chip, and breadth of Gemini-powered AI features make it clear that the machine was constructed for the occasions.
Additionally: Every Google Pixel 9 model compared: Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold
In actual fact, I’ve loved utilizing Google’s newest AI providers on the large display much more than on its Pixel 9 Professional, for no less than three causes, as listed in under:
- Pixel Screenshots: Extra images can populate as you kind particular phrases, names, locations, and different queries.
- Reimagine (and different Magic Editor options): The bigger canvas makes it simpler to pinpoint topics to take away, resize, or reimagine.
- Gemini: Break up-screening with Gemini Stay or its chatbot app is like working Copilot on Windows. Simply this weekend, I realized the dos and don’ts of refinancing a house mortgage from Gemini whereas texting my lender.
In my testing, the Pixel 9 Professional Fold remained useful even after I held it beneath the summer time solar. The two,700 nits of brightness on this yr’s mannequin is a significant win, particularly when in comparison with the Pixel Fold’s mere 1,450 nits, which made textual content illegible outside.
I’ve additionally seen the refresh charge remaining principally at 120Hz, with much less throttling than on the usual Pixel 9, whilst I am updating a sport within the background or scrolling via a Reddit feed filled with movies and pictures. The person expertise on the Pixel has been very clean.
If you happen to have been hoping to expertise the chopping fringe of digital camera tech with the $1,800 Pixel 9 Professional Fold, you would be simply as dissatisfied as those that hoped for a similar final yr. That is as a result of the brand new Google foldable carries practically each sensor from the earlier Pixel Fold, together with the 48MP most important lens and 10MP selfie cameras.
The ultrawide and telephoto lenses are right down to 10.5MP (from 11MP) however area comparable apertures and capturing capabilities. The humorous factor is, even with the year-old {hardware}, the Pixel nonetheless shoots essentially the most natural-looking, well-contrasted images and movies of all of the foldables I’ve examined.
Additionally: The camera accessory I recommend to most people is not a tripod or microphone
Nonetheless, in comparison with the brand new Pixel 9 Pro series, the Fold falls flat intimately and coloration replica. See the picture pattern under, which compares the output from the 48MP and 50MP broad sensors on the Fold and 9 Professional, respectively. The colours captured by the Fold seem extra washed out (learn: the flower petals are a lighter shade of pink). When zooming in, you may actually see the place particulars get misplaced, like on the flower tag.
As an alternative of buffing the {hardware}, Google has added new software program options like Made You Look, Add Me, and Video Increase to increase the Pixel 9 Professional Fold digital camera system’s capabilities. Made You Look shows dynamic animations on the outer display to get the eye of your topic — ideally, a toddler or pet — as you seize the photograph.
It nearly works. As a result of the rear cameras on the Pixel 9 Professional Fold will not be immediately above the outer show, topics typically stare extra rightward, showing as in the event that they’re distracted by a passerby.
I additionally want you may use Add Me, which stitches two photos captured by two totally different folks to incorporate everybody in the identical photograph, whereas the Pixel 9 Professional Fold is in Tabletop Mode. With the ability to set the telephone nonetheless would make the framing of the images practically an identical. You would not want an AR overlay to information the framing, considerably lowering person error. As an alternative, the function now requires that you simply click on twice and hope that the AI will piece everybody collectively.
Additionally: Why Pixel phone’s enhanced Astrophotography mode is perfect for snapping the night sky
Lastly, the 4,650mAh battery on the Pixel 9 Professional Fold has been sufficient to get me via a day, with roughly 18% to twenty% left. That is about common by immediately’s flagship telephone requirements however a lot better than final yr’s Pixel Fold, which I discovered myself recharging earlier than nighttime. It helps that the outer show feels extra like a standard smartphone’s, that means I’ve felt much less of an urge to open up the telephone and use the extra power-consuming inside show.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold has practically all the things a Pixel person may need in a foldable, from the simplistic person expertise to the dependable digital camera system to the seven years of software program help. I am a fan of the brand new, slimmer, and lighter design, which earns the title of being the thinnest foldable within the US.
Beneath a $1,800 magnifying glass, nevertheless, it is arduous to not nitpick all of the methods Google may’ve made the telephone higher. Having the identical (if not comparable) digital camera system as the opposite Pixel “Professional” telephones could be a begin.
For one of the best deal on the Pixel 9 Professional Fold, I would take into account Amazon or Best Buy, each of which give you a $350 reward card along with your buy.