Pixel 9 Pro Fold review: what is Google's first folding smartphone worth (in France) ?

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After a first attempt on its home turf last year, Google is launching its first folding smartphone in France. In 2023, the Pixel Fold took the form of a small passport, a format that made it very original but also had some usability flaws.

In 2024, the second folding model made by Google is part of the Pixel 9 nomenclature: no Pixel Fold 2 then but a Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Should we see this as a sign of major change ? Absolutely. Google has concocted a new recipe by abandoning its passport format in favor of a form factormore “classic”. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold also inherits the company's expertise in photography and artificial intelligence. All for the modest sum of 1,900 euros.

Is the Pixel 9 Pro Fold worth giving up a vital organ ? Answer in our full test after a month of use.

Its design and screens

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is neither the thinnest nor the least bulky of folding smartphones. That title goes to Honor's Magic V3. However, it remains one of the most pleasant folding smartphones to use on a daily basis.

For this second generation, Google has revised the passport format to move towards a more “consensual” design. Closed, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold takes the form of a classic 6.3” smartphone in 20:9 format. Its particularity lies in the integration of the external screen, rounded at the four corners, which fits a frame with right angles on the left side, at the hinge. This therefore leaves black spaces that may make the most picky people tick. For our part, we are rather won over by this look of a small notebook.

Another originality: unlike the rest of the range, its photo modules are not housed in a small pillhorizontal. Google groups the optics in a square island with rounded corners that we find less daring. The engineers explain that they wanted to keep this module in the shape of a pill, but the space constraints of the folding format limited the room for maneuver. Noted.

Indeed, if it is not the thinnest on the market, the Pixel 9 Pro still has attractive dimensions. Closed, it's barely thicker than a Pixel 9 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro. Opened, it transforms into an 8-inch tablet that's of just 5.1 mm. Measurements that make it as comfortable open as closed.

What about the fold ? Thanks to a new hinge, it is less visible than on a Galaxy Z Fold6 but a little more than on the Magic V3. Does it spoil the daily experience ? Absolutely not. Apart from a few rare situations (when watching a film in direct sunlight at a very specific angle), this fold remains very discreet.

Thinner, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold also gains in strength and lightness. Its aluminum hinge has been reinforced and the whole thing is IPX8 certified (splash-proof). Since it is lighter, it is also more pleasant to handle on a daily basis. The good weight distribution (257 g all the same) contributes to these good sensations in the hand.

The matte glass coating fits perfectly with the high-end standards of 2024. Too bad Google is content to only offer it in two colors ( black or white porcelain). A third, bolder color wouldn't have hurt.

Finally,The two integrated screens are simply sublime. With OLED technology, they shine with their excellent brightness and refresh rates of 120 Hz. A pleasure for the eyes.

Its good battery life

Analyzing the battery life of a folding smartphone is always a perilous exercise. Indeed, the results of the benchmarks can vary from simple to double depending on whether the smartphone is open or closed.

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold has a 4,650 mAh battery. A somewhat weak capacity compared to what the competition offers (around 5,000 mAh). But thanks to the optimization of the Tensor G4 chip (which we analyze below), the Pro Fold does very well.

More precisely, it proves to be very durable with the screen closed. Open, it is a little limited. Since it is difficult to evaluate the frequency with which we open or close the phone, we have decided to describe our daily experience, namely that of a user who is as connected as he is mobile. The display comfort of the exterior screen allows it to be used mostly in a day. We only open the Pixel 9 Pro Fold when necessary: to watch a video, play, work, read, get information.

By adopting this usage (which is naturally installed), you can easily last a day and a half before having to recharge. If you tend to overdo good things, it is better to plan on a daily recharge.

A very good camera phone

A weak point of most folding smartphones, photography has been the subject of particular attention here. It must be said that Google has a solid reputation to uphold, the Pixel brand having established itself as a reference in the field.

While the company offers a very convincing Pixel 9 Pro Fold, it does not reach the level of excellence of its brothers. The reason is simple: the folding model is not equipped with the same optics. The Pro Fold is composed of a solid triple photo module but which is nothing extraordinary in 2024:

a wide-angle with a 48 MP sensor
an ultra wide-angle with a 10.5 MP sensor and macro mode
a telephoto lens (5x optical zoom) with a 10.8 MP

Pixel fans know that Google's talent lies mainly in its algorithmic formula. Basically, the onboard AI can dramatically enhance photos, even if it sometimes means overdoing it.

This is the case, for example, in low light, where the AI tends to overdo the exposure. It's not uncommon to end up with photos that look like they were taken in the late afternoon when they were actually taken at night.

Outside of this scenario, AI works wonders (excellent contrasts, colorimetry, sharpness), especially when hardware limitations are felt. For example, beyond the 5x optical zoom, image processing is impeccable and allows for very convincing photos, including in low light, up to a 10x zoom. In broad daylight, when the weather conditions are favorable, you can even go up to a 20x zoom without flinching. Beyond that, you get closer to a mush of pixels than a photo.

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The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is also gifted in the&amp ;#8217;exercise of portrait with precise clipping and natural bokeh. AI even allows for background blurring in post-editing in case we forgot to enable portrait mode. And it also works with old photos imported into Google Photos.

The difference with the Pixel 9 Pro is mainly in the ultra wide-angle. The loss of detail is more visible, as is the distortion of the image. You will therefore have to be vigilant in dark environments. The macro mode is very successful.

Finally, as with all competing models, the folding format allows you to capture selfies or filming yourself with the main camera. The external screen then serves as a return. Practical.

On the video side, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold can film up to 4K at 60fps with decent stabilization. As we explain in our Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL reviews, Google can still improve on this point. Apple and Samsung remain a notch above in this area.

We won't linger here on the multiple AI-powered features. We've covered them in depth in our reviews of the other Pixel 9s. Just remember that the Pro Fold inherits all of these features (magic eraser, Add me, magic retouch, etc.) .).

If we had to sum up the Pixel 9 Pro Fold's photography skills, we could compare it to a Pixel 7 Pro that came out two years ago, but was already ahead of its time. It therefore ranks among the best folding models.

Slow charging

Like the other models in the family, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold does not shine with its charging speed .Capped at 21 W in wired mode, it is even slower than that of the Pixel 9 Pro XL, limited to 37 W. Wireless charging is also disappointing since it peaks at 7.5 W.

To avoid unpleasant surprises, it will therefore be necessary to adopt a daily charge (at best wirelessly during the night) even if the autonomy allows a use of a day and a half. Forget express recharges when needed as we can afford with a OnePlus Open or an Honor Magic V3.

The efficient chip but far from the competition

Like the rest of the Pixel 9 family, the Pro Fold features the in-house Tensor G4 chip.Designed to ensure the best possible operation of Google services and AI, it fulfills its role perfectly on a daily basis. However, its NPU-centric architecture has a flaw: the CPU and GPU are slightly behind the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor equipping its competitors.

As a result, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold can sometimes be slower, especially for demanding uses like photo editing or video editing. Gamers will also feel a little frustrated with some 3D games that do not run at the best possible quality (often the framerate slows down a little).

In absolute terms, this defect remains anecdotal as the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is fluid on a daily basis, including for the most demanding users. But we think it is important to highlight this particularity of the Tensor G4 chip, especially since Google promises 7 years of software updates. It is not certain that the chip will be able to hold up by then. The average renewal being 3 years, this should not be a problem for first-time buyers, but for the second life of the product, it is a different story.

Large under-exploited screen

If the Pixel 9 Pro Fold's interface really appealed to us (for reasons that are widely discussed in our Pixel 9 reviews , 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL), we regret that it does not adapt enough to the possibilities offered by the folding format. Can we blame Google ? A little more than other manufacturers since it is still the captain of the Android ship.

A few optimizations remain welcome. For example, we are thinking of the possibility of sharing the internal screen to work on two applications simultaneously. Since not all developers have adopted the square format of folding smartphones, Google is proposing to stretch applications that would leave ugly black bands on the sides of the screen. Better than nothing but insufficient.

Google has all the power it needs to convince game publishers or major streaming platforms to optimize their applications for this format. Furthermore, other brands like Samsung, Honor or OnePlus are more prolific in terms of optimization.

What about the stylus? ? Google still doesn't offer one, even though the folding format lends itself perfectly to it. So there's still a bit of work to be done to bring the software up to par with hardware excellence.

Stratospheric price

Like its competitors, the price of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is close to 2& ;nbsp;000 euros ! A stratospheric rate that we find increasingly difficult to understand, for two reasons.

D&# First, the market for foldable smartphones has passed the embryonic stage. Also, the prices of the components needed to manufacture them are much more affordable than they were 5 years ago. However, the prices have not not lowered.

This is all the more regrettable since sales volumes have increased considerably. In five years, we have gone from a market with a single player (Samsung) to something much more extensive (Motorola, Honor, OnePlus, OPPO and Huawei are not new to this). Logically, prices should therefore fall.

But inflation has been there, so manufacturers have a ready-made excuse to justify these exorbitant prices. We see it rather as a good way to maintain high margins on exceptional products in order to compensate, through value, for the general drop in volume on the smartphone market. The result remains the same: in the end, it is the consumer who pays the bill.

By changing the recipe, Google has managed to offer one of the most successful folding smartphones on the market. While it may not reach the Honor Magic V3's records for finesse and lightness, its new format remains pleasant to use on a daily basis, both as a smartphone and a tablet. The best camera phone in its category, it also stands out for its Pixel Experience interface boosted by AI, its magnificent screens and its good battery life.

Given its stratospheric price, we would have liked a little more generosity on certain aspects. Charging is really too slow in 2024 for a model of this caliber, software optimizations for the folding format could be more numerous and the raw performance of the Tensor G4 chip questions the durability of the product.

Until these adjustments are made, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold remains an excellent folding smartphone, as long as you have a substantial budget. To the question “should you go for the Pro Fold or the Pro/Pro XL ?”, our answer is simple: it all depends on your needs.

If photography is of paramount importance in your life, the Pro and Pro XL are more recommended. If multimedia and productivity are at the heart of your uses, the Pro Fold will fill you with happiness, even if you have to leave a kidney there.

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Teilor Stone

Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116