Google has yet to announce its foldable smartphone, but it has been a few years from the rumors started making the rounds, enough for us to get an idea of what the company will do when it finally commits to the form factor. On Home Page Technologya popular YouTube channel that has been on the money multiple times with leaks, new renders indicate the Pixel Fold will be bigger than Samsung’s current release—and it will also have larger bezels.
Anonymous sources at Front Page Tech offered a glimpse of what’s to come and created some pretty compelling renders based on what they saw. The renders suggest a phone that’s wider than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, which I’ve been obsessing over since I reviewed it in August. But my only complaint about it months after using it is that I still think Samsung’s phone is too narrow to type on when it’s closed. The front screen is difficult to touch when it has a protective cover and you have long fingernails. A wider device would fix this, and the Pixel Fold looks wide.
When closed, the folding device resembles the pixel 7 on the front. The back has a massive protruding camera bar, similar to the one from Microsoft Duo Surface 2, which did not bode well for that particular foldable. At least the camera lenses aren’t set off to the side like on the Z Fold 4. It makes the “tablet” uneven when laid flat without a case to help the back stay flush.
According to Front Page Tech sources, the Pixel Fold is called “Project Passport”. It will be marketed as a premium device and won’t have an under-display camera on the inside like the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Instead, it will have a bezel around the edges to accommodate a 9.5-megapixel camera. If that means high-res video calls with that camera on the inside, it might make the bezel worth living with. The significantly lower resolution video situation on the Z Fold 4 is starting to get to me.
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Front Page Tech “confidence” their renders, although they have been recreated to help protect the identity of their sources. The Pixel Fold could look a lot different when it finally launches. Still, it’s hard not to be excited about the renders, considering Front Page Tech came close to the mark on the design of the pixel clock. Unfortunately, that means you’re right about the price, too. The $1800 starting price of the Pixel Fold mentioned in the video seems possible since that’s the price of Samsung’s Z Fold. It also means that affordable foldables will stick around for a long time. far
