Google unveils the Pixel Fold: a $1,799 foldable smartphone

Google (GOOG, GOOGL) debuted its Pixel Fold smartphone at its annual I/O developers conference in Mountain View, CA. on Wednesday. The phone, which—hold your breath—will cost $1,799, is Google’s first foldable handset, and its first ultra premium device. The company also revealed its low-cost Pixel 7A at the show.

Like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4, the Pixel Fold opens up like a book, allowing users to take advantage of its front display, or its larger tablet-like inner screen. Google says the Pixel Fold’s 5.8-inch external display should feel just like a standard smartphone screen whether surfing the web or checking TikTok.

That would be a sharp contrast from Samsung’s Z Fold, which uses a larger, though thinner 6.2-inch outer screen that can feel cramped while doing things like typing messages. Inside, the Pixel Fold gets a 7.6-inch panel that folds directly down its center line. The Z Fold packs a similar internal display, though it looks as though Samsung’s offering has thinner bezels around its inner screen.

Google also claims that the Pixel Fold is the thinnest foldable on the market whether folded or unfolded. That should come as a relief to consumers who’ve balked at Samsung’s bulky Z Fold’s design.

Around back, you’ll find the Pixel Fold’s telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom, along with its wide-angle and ultrawide angle cameras. Up front, Google has outfitted the Pixel Fold with a 9.5 megapixel selfie camera, which does double duty as the phone’s Face Unlock camera. A second selfie camera over the inner display allows you to make video chats via the large 7.6-panel.

As far as performance goes, the Pixel Fold is powered by Google’s custom Tensor G2 chip and 12GB of RAM. You can opt for 256GB or 512GB of internal storage. Battery life? Google says the Pixel Fold will get more than 24 hours of use out of a single charge. We’ll have to see how those claims stand up in real life, though.

All of those specs and numbers are top notch, but what do they actually do for you? The Pixel Fold, like the Z Fold, is meant to provide users with a tablet experience in a compact package. The idea is to give a large canvas to browse the web, watch videos, play games, and take and edit photos.

During my time with the Z Fold, however, I noticed that I spent much of my time using the outer display, rather than taking the time to unfold it and use the inner screen. Maybe I’m just lazy, but I simply preferred the outer screen.

That’s not to say there aren’t some interesting uses for foldable devices. Google, for instance, touts the Pixel Fold’s ability to let users drag and drop content between an app running on one side of the inner screen and another app running on the other side. You can also easily multitask by running two apps side by side.

You can also use the Pixel Fold in tabletop mode to watch movies and TV shows or make video calls hands free.

If you prefer reading ebooks, the Pixel Fold is also a solid bet, as it will provide a larger display than a regular non-folding phone. But is all of that worth $1,799? It depends on your priorities.

For Google, and its parent Alphabet though, one thing is clear: it’s not ditching its hardware line anytime soon. Despite low market share compared to leaders Apple and Samsung, Google is seemingly dedicated to its Pixel line as a means of diversifying its revenue streams outside of the advertising space.

In its 2022 10K form, Alphabet said its Google other business, which is made up of its hardware and Google Play sales as well as YouTube subscriptions, brought in $29 billion in revenue for the year, up from $28 billion in 2021. Still, that’s a drop in the bucket compared to Google’s advertising revenue of $224.5 billion in 2022.

The Pixel Fold is also coming to market at a time when consumers are purchasing fewer smartphones as high interest rates and inflation batter electronics sales. Still, the fold doesn’t need to be a market leader to be a success. It simply needs to help Google gain greater share in the space. But when your main competitors are Apple and Samsung, that’s no easy task.

Pixel 7A coming for $499

On the other end of the pricing spectrum is Google’s Pixel 7A. A low-cost follow-up to last year’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, the Pixel 7A starts at $499 and packs a 6.1-inch display with an up to 90Hz refresh rate for smooth on-screen animations.

The phone offers two rear cameras, wide-angle and ultra-wide angle, and features many of the same software capabilities as Google’s pricier handsets. That includes Magic Eraser, which allows you to easily remove unwanted objects from your photos, and Photo Unblur, which, well, unblurs photos.

Like the Pixel Fold and Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, the Pixel 7A gets Google’s custom Tensor G2 chip, as well as 8GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage. The company also promises battery life will last more than 24 hours during regular use and up to 72 hours on Extreme Battery Saver mode.

By Daniel Howley, tech editor at Yahoo Finance. Follow him @DanielHowley

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