At a look
Knowledgeable’s Ranking
Professionals
- Premium feel and look
- Snappy day-to-day efficiency
- Massive shiny shows
- Clear software program
- Nice cameras
Cons
- Tensor G4 is underwhelming
- Expenses very slowly
- Gemini Superior options require a subscription
Our Verdict
The Google Pixel 9 Professional Fold is without doubt one of the most well-made and premium-feeling book-style foldables cash can purchase, and it’s a delight to reside with. Robust competitors from the likes of Samsung and Honor complicates issues, although, and when you’re searching for the perfect bang to your buck, this isn’t it.
Value When Reviewed
$1799
Greatest Costs As we speak: Google Pixel 9 Professional Fold
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 sequence and Pixel 8 sequence. It was Google’s most premium and costly handset ever, but only some months after its launch, it already felt outdated.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 not like every other foldable available on the market, with a large, squat cowl display that was virtually passport-shaped. To not point out some large bezels on the within display. Some cherished 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 suggests 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 seems like a very premium flagship foldable. Nonetheless, 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 to this point.
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 important machine for the previous week, right here’s the whole lot I realized.
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 massive format foldable in 2024, and one thing in regards to the Pixel makes it really feel dearer and premium than the remaining.
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Luke Baker
Luke Baker
It’s not the slimmest handset round, measuring slightly 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 to this point, 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 measurement because the common Pixel 9 Professional when folded, simply thicker, with a squared-off aspect for the hinge.
It’s virtually precisely the identical measurement because the common Pixel 9 Professional when folded, simply thicker, with a squared-off aspect for the hinge
Which means utilizing the duvet 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
In contrast to the opposite Pixel 9 fashions, the Fold has a matt end on its aspect rails, and I a lot favor it. It’s a lot much less fingerprint-prone and nonetheless very grippy. Nonetheless, the hinge nonetheless has that high-gloss smudge magnet end as you’ll discover on the opposite telephones.
Talking of the hinge, it’s probably the most 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 digicam 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 relatively fetching, and it’s broad sufficient to not introduce wobble when it’s positioned on a desk.
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Luke Baker
Luke Baker
One factor I simply couldn’t get used to on this cellphone is the positioning of the quantity rocker. It’s actually low down, so turning the quantity down requires some critical thumb gymnastics when utilizing the cellphone one-handed. These with smaller fingers might not have as a lot bother, however I discovered it very annoying.
The haptics on this cellphone are incredible, and among the many greatest you’ll discover on a foldable. The exact sturdy vibrations really feel nice whenever you’re typing rapidly, 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
- Predominant: 8-inch, 2076 x 2152, LTPO OLED, 1800 nits
- Stereo audio system
I’ve already touched on the duvet show dimensions, but it surely’s value repeating that this cellphone is nearly identically sized to the Pixel 9 Professional. In contrast to 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 duvet show are additionally a lot chunkier. It’s not one thing that basically bothered me in use, but it surely appears a bit dated in comparison with the competitors. It’s additionally not an LTPO panel, so the refresh charge solely shifts between 60- and 120Hz. Once more, it didn’t actually hassle me, but it surely’s an odd omission on the display prone to get probably the most use.
Elsewhere, the duvet show left me with no complaints. The 2700 nit peak brightness was greater than sufficient to deal with direct daylight, and a totally flat panel meant no phantom touches or bizarre reflections to cope with.
On the within, there’s an enormous 8-inch foldable show, and this one is an LTPO panel. It’s not fairly as shiny, 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 largest show on a foldable, and that is perhaps true within the US market, but it surely’s not the case for these of us with entry to handsets from Chinese language producers. It’s actually 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 house, because of the curvy corners and thicker bezels on the Pixel.
That stated, it’s nonetheless a splendidly spacious show that’s nice for multitasking and watching full-screen content material. I like that the selfie digicam 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 resolution 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 digicam.
There’s nonetheless a reasonably sizable crease and it’s extra noticeable than a few of its rivals because of a high-gloss display protector
The Pixel 9 Professional Fold truly folds flat, which is an improve in comparison with the earlier mannequin, which appreciated to take a seat a slight V-shape. There’s nonetheless a reasonably sizable crease and it’s extra noticeable than a few of its rivals because of a high-gloss display protector. I do suppose it’s higher than Samsung’s crease, however subsequent to the Honor Magic V3, it’s not probably the most spectacular.
Luke Baker
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 working down the centre, whereas lots of my different foldables encourage you to flip the cellphone into panorama mode. I say this as a result of one speaker is nearly all the time muffled by my palm in panorama mode, and the almost-square facet ratio signifies that 16:9 content material doesn’t get a lot bigger whenever you rotate it. That’s wonderful by me, it’s way more handy than spinning it round.
The audio system can get extraordinarily loud and so they sound very good, 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, identical to the remainder of the Pixel 9 sequence. It’s well-documented at this level that this processor isn’t an enormous improve during the last era Tensor G3, a minimum of exterior of some very particular AI-based workloads.
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Luke Baker
It’s paired with a good 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 data, I wasn’t anticipating an excessive amount of within the efficiency division, however I used to be pleasantly shocked. In day-to-day use, scrolling social media, messaging and consuming content material, the Pixel 9 Professional Fold feels lightning-quick.
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 probably the most out of this chip is clearly working, and whether or not it’s a trick of the animation type 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 will clearly see that Google is a number of 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 players.
That stated, the machine can nonetheless play video games nicely, 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, but it surely by no means bought too sizzling or uncomfortable to carry, which is all you’ll be able to actually ask for.
Google Pixel 9 Professional Fold benchmarks
Cameras
- 48Mp important digicam
- 10.5Mp ultrawide
- 10.8Mp 5x periscope telephoto
- 10Mp selfie digicam
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, relatively than cutting-edge {hardware}. Within the case of the Pixel 9 Professional Fold, there aren’t any {hardware} upgrades for the digicam system, however that may not matter a lot.
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Luke Baker
Nonetheless, it means you could have some very low-resolution sensors within the lineup. Solely the principle digicam 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 evening mode and noise discount extra closely when taking pictures in low-light situations.
Within the day, photographs from the Pixel 9 Professional Fold have the signature Pixel attraction – they appear shiny, sharp and detailed, with glorious dynamic vary. It’s a slight step down in high quality in comparison with the mainline Pixel snappers, however outcomes are comparable sufficient, and it’s simply as dependable as a point-and-shoot digicam for social media posts.
Photographs from the Pixel 9 Professional Fold have the signature Pixel attraction – they appear shiny, sharp and detailed, with glorious dynamic vary
When it will get darker, the principle digicam is the best way to go. It produces the sharpest photographs with probably the most element, in the meantime, the telephoto and ultrawide cameras look a bit gentle and are very vulnerable to movement blur. I think the muddiness comes from over-active noise discount, as in video mode, these sensors look fairly grainy, however in images, all of it disappears.
There are two selfie cameras with similar specs, they’re each 10Mp punch-hole items and neither has autofocus. These cameras are adequate for video calls however I discovered them unimpressive for images. Numerous my snaps got here out wanting washed-out, and low-light photographs usually regarded blurry. The excellent news is that it is a foldable, so it’s simply as straightforward to take selfies utilizing the vastly superior important digicam.
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 principle digicam, and it all the time applies a minimum of a 1.5x crop to the picture. There aren’t any filters, no management over the quantity of blur, and the topic detection is a bit hit-and-miss.
One of many new Fold-exclusive options is one thing referred to as “Made you look”. It makes use of the duvet display 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 working round and was glued to the display, making it tremendous straightforward to seize some footage. Sadly, that’s the place I additionally realised this mode’s massive shortcoming. It makes use of the duvet display selfie digicam relatively than the principle digicam. It is sensible, as that’s the place the kid might be wanting, and that’s wonderful within the day, however I used to be in a dimly lit restaurant, so my images have been a blurry mess.
After all, you get all the opposite Pixel-exclusive picture 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 nicely 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 spite of everything, it appears a lot simpler to snap a bunch selfie, ask a stranger to take an image or use the cellphone’s personal built-in tripod mode. When you fancy cloning your self, although, that is a simple approach 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 mean 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 numerous images, that determine was considerably decreased. All through my testing, I by no means wanted a mid-day top-up, however count on to cost each evening with out fail.
A mean day noticed me going to mattress with round 20-30% left within the tank
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 in some way 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, which means 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 concern.
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Luke Baker
Software program & Apps
- Android 14
- Gemini AI options
- New Screenshots, Climate and Pixel Studio apps
Like the remainder of this yr’s Pixel lineup, the Pixel 9 Professional Fold launched upfront of Android 15, so it’s working Android 14 as a substitute. Nonetheless, 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 similar to the opposite Pixel 9-series units, and Pixel 8 fashions, too. With this being a large-format foldable, although, the multitasking expertise is way more necessary.
For probably the most half, I like the best way Google has approached this. It’s fast and simple to know the cut up display mode, and it’s easy to arrange your most typical app pairings, too.
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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 recreation 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 Taking part in function that permits you to know what music is taking part in in your lock display, the combination with Google House is superb, too. On the flip aspect, there are some very primary options that the Pixel interface continues to be missing, like the power to maneuver apps round in bulk.
Google spent lots of the Pixel 9 launch occasion speaking about its new Gemini-powered AI options, and a few of them are actually spectacular. At occasions, speaking to Gemini Reside seems like a glimpse into the long run – however the issue is, it’s not a Pixel function.
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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 monthly subscription that I’m certain most can do with out.
The three new apps have various levels of usefulness, and I’m a bit miffed about them being separate apps. As an illustration, 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 may 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 yr’s Samsung flagships and Google units, but it surely’s nice and I miss it when it’s not there.
One other massive 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 similar help – however nonetheless very spectacular.
Value & Availability
The Google Pixel 9 Professional Fold is accessible to buy now in most areas throughout the globe. When you purchase it outright, the 256GB mannequin will price you £1,749/ $1,799 whereas the 512GB mannequin goes for £1,869/$1,919. It’s actually not low-cost, however it is a massive format foldable, and this sort of pricing comes with the territory.
When 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 associated fee.
We’ve rounded up each in our greatest Pixel 9 offers article, however extra contract choices can be found beneath:
Must you purchase the Google Pixel 9 Professional Fold?
I’ve cherished dwelling with the Pixel 9 Professional Fold, it’s such an enormous enchancment on the earlier mannequin and probably the most polished and premium-feeling foldable handsets available on the market as we speak. Regardless of having a slower processor and fewer software program options, I nonetheless favor it over the Galaxy Z Fold 6. If we’re solely speaking about telephones you can purchase within the US, then it’s extraordinarily straightforward to advocate.
Within the UK, nevertheless, Honor has the Magic V3, which bests the Pixel in virtually each space and comes at a decrease price. Positive, its AI options will not be fairly as superior, however I discovered the digicam extra spectacular, it’s faster, has a much bigger battery, sooner charging and extra storage – all for about £100 much less.
That stated, the Pixel does have its charms, and when you love the bloat-free Pixel expertise, the Honor machine is not any substitute. It has an extended help time period and might be one of many first units to get all of the goodies that include Android 15, too. It won’t be the perfect {hardware} out there, but it surely’s nonetheless probably the greatest folding telephones.
Specs
- Android 14
- Cowl: 6.3-inch, 1080 x 2424, OLED, 120Hz
- Predominant: 8-inch, 2076 x 2152, LTPO OLED, 120Hz
- Facet-mounted fingerprint sensor
- Google Tensor G4
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB / 512GB storage
- Cameras:
- 48Mp important digicam
- 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