Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold: Second time’s a charm
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Picture: Noel Campion.
Google has made its second foray into the foldable phone market with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Unfortunately, the original was never officially released here in Ireland, but thankfully, their latest office is now available to Irish customers. Designed to be both a premium smartphone and a compact tablet, this foldable combines sleek aesthetics with advanced tech. But how does it stack against the competition and Google's other offerings?
The first thing you'll notice about the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is its refined notebook-style design. When closed, it looks like a regular smartphone with curved and squared-off edges. While it may not be as perfectly symmetrical as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, it still feels solid and well-constructed, especially with its polished metal hinge.
The fingerprint-resistant matte finish is a small but welcome detail, keeping the phone looking clean and smudge-free even with daily use. I love that it stays wobble-free on a flat surface, which is great for tabletop use—something the Z Fold6 often struggles with.
It looks like Google has taken the display of the Pixel 9 and placed it onto the cover of the foldable, giving it a familiar feel. Despite the added weight and width from the hinge, it still feels impressively slim. The extra width from the hinge might seem cumbersome at first, but it improves the typing experience since your hands aren’t cramped together.
At 257g, the 9 Pro Fold is one of the heaviest foldables. For reference, the Z Fold 6 is 239g, the Honor Magic V3 is 230g (the black version is 226g), and for comparison, the iPhone 15 Pro Max weighs 221g. The weight is noticeable, but it’s well-balanced, and after a few days, I got to love the weight and feel it in my hand.
The large bezels on the inner and outer displays are also noticeable. I’m not a huge fan of the large rounded corners on the displays either, but they’re not a dealbreaker.
Overall, while I have a few niggles about the design, I love the look, and it’s comfortable to hold, whether folded or unfolded, despite the heft.
The hinge mechanism feels rigid, in a good way, and it shuts with a satisfying snap.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold features a capacitive fingerprint scanner embedded in the power button. I found it incredibly fast and accurate, and its placement is perfect for me while holding it in my hand and unlocking it with my thumb.
The secure face unlock feature works seamlessly on both the cover and the main display and integrates smoothly with banking apps—a feature not many Android phones can claim. However, because it relies solely on the selfie camera (without extra sensors), face unlock struggles in low-light environments.
Unfolding the Pixel 9 Pro Fold reveals its 8-inch, 1-120Hz LTPO OLED display, which feels roomy and ideal for multitasking. The hinge is sturdy, allowing the phone to be propped up at various angles. There’s a noticeable crease in the middle of the display, albeit slightly less than the Z Fold 6, but it’s only visible under certain lighting conditions and shouldn’t be too distracting for most users.
One downside is that video content isn’t centred on the screen on streaming apps such as Prime Video and Now TV — it sits slightly lower. This, paired with the large black bars that appear when watching most videos (due to the square aspect ratio), may be a bit jarring. Prime Video and Now TV don’t support the folded “stand” mode on the 9 Pro Fold or Z Fold 6, although the Honor Magic V3 does support it for Prime Video. Netflix works as it should on all three foldables.
As for audio, the stereo speakers are solid but can sound harsh at higher volumes. Google has cleverly placed speaker holes at the top to maintain decent sound quality in tablet mode, but don’t expect booming audio from this super thin foldable.
The 6.3-inch cover display is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2 glass, which is comforting since I’ve been using the phone for the last two weeks, and there are no signs of wear either on the back or front. Like the inner display, the cover display has a peak brightness of 2,700 nits. However, unlike the larger screen, the cover is not LPTO, so it can only run at 60Hz or 120Hz.
Google’s Pixel UI translates well to the foldable form factor. If you’re familiar with other Pixel devices, you'll feel right at home with it.
However, customisation options are limited. You can’t tailor the home screen layouts between the cover and the main display, and multitasking is basic. While you can run two apps side by side using Android’s taskbar, there’s no desktop mode or stylus support. Also, you can’t add a third slide-over app. While some might find this limiting, I find it more than enough for my use case scenarios while using a foldable – you can’t expect an 8-inch display to be more productive than a larger, more powerful laptop.
On the positive side, Google’s focus on simplicity makes the Pixel 9 Pro Fold easy to use, even if it feels restrictive regarding advanced multitasking features.
The 9 Pro Fold also comes with the new Pixel Studio app, which is fun. In it, you can use prompts to create images in various styles.
Not everyone will care, but I love the style of the new weather app on the standard Pixels, and it’s even nicer on the large display of the Fold. I can’t say if the forecast is accurate, but it looks gorgeous.
The base Pixel 9 Pro Fold has 256GB or 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM. Running Android 14, it’s powered by Google Tensor G4 silicon, the same chipset found in their Pixel 9 phones. The Fold doesn’t score as well in benchmarks as the standard Pixels with G4. This is probably down to throttling, but the difference isn’t noticeable in real-world use unless you’re playing a demanding game for an extended period.
Google’s reputation for excellent smartphone cameras continues with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, although it falls short of the regular Pixel 9 Pro. The 48MP primary camera handles most situations well, delivering sharp, vibrant photos, but the HDR can feel a step behind the competition. Portrait mode could also be improved, especially compared to the non-foldable Pixel models.
The ultrawide is 10.5MP, and the 5x telephoto camera is 10.8MP. While the hardware is a far cry from the impressive Pixel 9 Pro XL cameras, Google has managed to do somehow a great job of using AI and computational photography to produce excellent photos. The results are fine as long as you’re not a pixel peeper.
Like the other Pixel 9 models, Google’s AI-powered photo features, like Face Unblur, Magic Eraser, and Add Me, are present. These tools work wonders for some shots, especially when capturing a moving subject. While the zoom capabilities aren’t as sharp as I’d hoped, the foldable form factor allows for creative photography using the main camera instead of relying on the front-facing lens.
Video quality is good but struggles in low-light conditions, where the phone tends to falter compared to its competitors.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold offers decent battery life but nothing extraordinary. On days when I mainly used it in phone mode, it comfortably lasted a full day. However, using the main display heavily (like for video or gaming) drained the battery faster, leaving me running for the charger by the evening.
Charging speeds are also on the slower side, maxing out at 21W. It takes around 30 minutes to reach 50%, but a full charge takes an hour and 45 minutes. Wireless charging speeds are also on the slower end of the scale, but I’m still pleased it’s there.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold represents a solid effort from Google in the foldable space. It’s a sleek, premium device that combines the familiar feel of a Pixel with the flexibility of a foldable, offering users both an excellent smartphone and a spacious tablet in one. This is a great option for those who value Google’s clean software experience and want the latest folding tech.
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold from €1,919 Google Store
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