Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold Review: I Spent A Week With The Most Expensive Foldable Phone In India And Here’s My Take

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold review.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is Google’s second foldable phone and the company’s first to launch in India. Also, at Rs 1,72,999, it is the most expensive foldable phone in India right now. It has also been launched at a time when there is some serious competition in the foldable market and consumers have more options than ever — Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, Vivo X Fold 3 Pro and OnePlus Open. Clearly, while Samsung has been a market leader in this segment, others are trying to get a share too.

Why I’m saying this? According to a Counterpoint Research report released in July, Samsung led the foldable market with a 79 per cent share. The report also says that the foldable smartphone market in India is projected to reach 0.8 million (8 lakh) units in 2024.

With the foldable market in India expected to grow in the coming years, I think with Pixel 9 Pro Fold launch, Google is betting big on India, one of the largest smartphone markets in the world. However, is it really serious about it? Maybe not. Because the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is one of the most boring foldable phones and the price tag is extremely difficult to justify as well. And, then there is the Tensor G4 at the heart of it, spoiling what could have been a decent experience.

After spending a week with the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, here’s my honest take.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold: Design And Display

Okay, so first things first — the design. Despite carrying the heaviest foldable tag at around 257 grams, I didn’t expect the Pixel 9 Pro Fold to feel good in hand. To be honest, the phone is not bulky. While it might not be the lightest foldable phone but Google has improved the design of its second-generation foldable by making it thinner and lighter than its predecessor. The camera layout on the back has changed too. It has a rectangular module instead of a horizontal bar.

I feel the Pixel 9 Pro Fold has a stronger hinge design when compared to the Google Pixel Fold. However, it has a noticeable crease and bezels around the main display compared to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. After briefly using the OnePlus Open and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 in the past, I still think the overall form factor of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is really good.

The design is wider than the Z Fold 6, but I feel that my grip is better on Google’s foldable phone. Plus, I always had trouble using the cover display on Samsung’s foldable phones with one hand. But, the wider main display on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold makes it so much easier for me to use the main display with just one hand.

The built quality of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is also impressive. The back of the device and the cover display are protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and the frame is made of aluminum. This Pixel Fold also comes withh an IPX8 rating. Overall, the design of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold has its pros and cons.

While the overall form factor and weight management are good, there is nothing exciting about it. The colours are bland, design elements land flat and even the finish didn’t excite me much. So, that’s something Google needs to work on going forward.

Coming to the display, the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold comes with a 6.3-inch OLED main display with a resolution of 1080 x 2424 pixels. This display supports HDR, a 120Hz refresh rate, a peak brightness of 2700 nits. On the other hand, the inner display is an 8-inch LTPO OLED panel with a resolution of 2076 x 2152 pixels, also offering HDR support, a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 2700 nits.

In terms of performance, both displays on the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold are gorgeous. They are bright and have rich, vivid colours. You can easily watch content on both screens even in bright outdoor conditions. Scrolling is also super smooth thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate. I really liked watching video content, especially movies and YouTube videos on the inner display.

With the larger cover display, I was more comfortable when watching content and managing my daily tasks compared to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. Plus, the inner display panel is bigger than the Z Fold 6’s 7.6-inch display, giving me more reasons to choose this Pixel. The foldable screen on the Pixel 9 Pro fold makes multitasking easier, and I like how Google optimised the interface for multiple windows.

However, I have mixed feelings about the gaming experience. I played BGMI on both displays, but my experience was better on the cover display, may be because the crease on the inner display distracted me during my gaming sessions.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold: Camera

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold comes with a triple rear camera that includes a 48-megapixel main camera with IOS, a 10.5MP ultrawide lens and a 10.8MP telephoto sensor with 5x optical zoom. For selfies and video calls, there are 10-megapixel front cameras on both the main and inner displays.

Pixel phones are known for good cameras, in fact, the other Pixel 9 series devices we reviewed were also good. I was expecting a similar performance on the Pixel 9 Pro fold, but this wasn’t the case this time. But hear me out, it’s still pretty good.

– During the day, the main camera takes decent photos with lively colours and accurate skin tones. However, I noticed an inconsistency in detailing. Also, the sharpness could be improved.

– I also noticed a few cases of over-image processing in the photos I took at night with primary camera mode. In low light, even with night mode on, the results were not as good as you expect from a Pixel phone. I liked the sharpness and brightness in the pictures, but the performance was inconsistent.

– Portrait shots taken with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold were good but not perfect when it comes to detail and edge detection. However, I liked the sharpness, colour and skin tone accuracy in the portraits taken with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

– The 5x zoom photos from the telephoto lens look good, but they are softer in low light. The videos I recorded on the foldable phone were also crisp, sharp and colourful. I think this Google phone has done a better job in the video department.

– The selfies I took during the testing from both selfie cameras produced similar results. They did a good job in taking pictures in bright light conditions. However, selfies taken at low lights were average.

Apart from options like Rear Camera Selfie, Made You Look and Dual Screen, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold comes with the same AI features and camera modes as other Pixel 9 series phones, such as Night Sight, Portrait, Camera, Video, Panorama, Photo Sphere, Google Lens, Astrophotography, Top Shot, Magic Eraser, Real Tone, Face Unblur, Long Exposure, Best Take, Magic Editor and Audio Magic Eraser.

The new ‘Add Me’ feature lets you take a photo of a group, then switch places with someone and take a second photo with you in it. If you have a kid at home, this ‘Made You Look’ feature will really help you take the best shots of kids, like in this case.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold: Performance

Well, I wanted to start my review with performance first but I decided to save it for the end. Why? You’ll find out in the next two minutes. Spending over 1.6 lakh on a phone in a country like India is not easy for the average consumer. And if you’re ready to spend this much on a foldable device, you would expect nothing less than all-around performance. That’s where I feel the Pixel 9 Pro Fold falls short.

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is powered by the Tensor G4 processor, which brings on-device AI capabilities. It’s the same in-house Google chipset you will find in the rest of the Pixel 9 flagships.

The Tensor G4 chip was made to compete with powerful chips like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Gen 3. But, in benchmarks, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold doesn’t excel in performance. It lags behind rivals with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. The thermal management isn’t great either.

On AnTuTu, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold struggled to score even 1 million. It scored 903,941 on AnTuTu which is far below the competition. Forget competing with foldable like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 (1,709,440) and Vivo X Fold 3 Pro (2,025,737) which scored nearly double, there are many phones priced under Rs 30,000 that performed better on AnTuTu than this Google phone, which costs Rs 1,72,999.

Even the Geekbench scores of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold were much lower compared to the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. The results are also reflected in the real-world usage. While the phone operates smoothly during basic tasks like scrolling, switching between apps and using social media apps, the device struggled to manage heavy gaming and video consumption for longer durations.

Compared to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, I feel that the Google fold isn’t the one for which you want to spend big bucks. If you play games like BGMI on high settings for even 40 minutes, you’ll feel that the gameplay is a bit slow and there are lags. You will also see some heating issues as well. Similar issues I had while playing HD videos on YouTube.

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold runs on Android 14 and will receive seven years of software support, including operating system updates and security patches. The user interface is clean and I didn’t encounter any noticeable issues. Coming to the AI features, they are easy and fun to use.

With Pixel Studio, I can create custom images just by typing descriptions. I really liked the Gemini Live. On Gemini Live, which can be opened by long-pressing the power button, you can transcribe YouTube videos by just pasting a link, or ask it to summarise an article you are reading.

However, I’m disappointed that there aren’t any AI features specifically made for this foldable device.

My experience with AI features, including Gemini, felt almost the same as when I used the Pixel 9, which I reviewed recently. If I’m paying Rs 80000 for a Pixel 9 to use AI features and almost 1.73 lakh for a Pixel 9 Pro Fold, I expect Google to offer some AI-exclusive features on this phone.

Lastly, this foldable phone packs a 4650mAh battery that supports 45W fast charging. After spending a week with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, I feel that the battery life is good on the phone.

Even after running tests on this phone and playing games for 30 minutes, I didn’t see any major drop in battery life. The device lasted more than a day on a normal usage. However, as mentioned above, I did face heating issues during my review period.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold: Verdict

A foldable Pixel phone was the natural progression for company’s hardware. And, the overall implementation isn’t bad either. Google has managed to get the design, software and cameras right. But, all of them are badly let down by a mediocre Tensor G4 chipset– a chipset that no ultra-premium phone should deserve. It’s way behind the rival SoCs, gives a highly mediocre performance and has poor thermal management.

Also, I feel this foldable phone is very overpriced. If it were priced under Rs 1,50,000, I would suggest considering it but for now, I think the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 or Vivo X Fold 3 Pro are better options if you’re looking for a premium foldable phone.