Google Was Working on a Second Foldable Alongside Pixel Fold, But it Wasn’t “Good Enough”: Report

Google only announced one of its foldables at Google I/O 2023.

Written by Sheldon Pinto, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 30 May 2023 11:57 IST

Google Was Working on a Second Foldable Alongside Pixel Fold, But it Wasn’t “Good Enough”: Report

Google’s Pixel Fold is priced from $1,799 in the US

Highlights

Pixel Fold is Google’s first foldable device
The existence of this second foldable was recently mentioned in a podcast
The form factor of this second foldable remains unknown

Google only announced one foldable phone with a horizontal folding design at its recent Google I/O 2023 developer event. At the event, Google also announced two other hardware products called the Pixel Tablet and the affordable Pixel 7a smartphone. Its foldable offering called the Pixel Fold, is currently available on pre-order in the US, but will be available in select markets globally at a later date. Unlike most smartphone brands, Google only announced one foldable at launch. However, a recent podcast revealed that there was a second foldable in development as well.

The confirmation of the existence of this second foldable came from Google's head of design for hardware products, Ivy Ross. According to Android Authority the Google executive mentioned the existence of this second foldable in the official Made By Google podcast.

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Ross gave out an explanation about how there was another foldable model that Google had created without revealing any further details about its form factor. He added that the team made the decision to hold back on its launch as it was not “good enough yet”. He also mentioned that the team at Google felt that they should hold on to launching this second foldable until it was capable of doing things better than similar models that are already available in the market.

Simply put, Google could launch this second foldable at a later date, as it did not have enough features to outdo existing models in the market. Since Google already launched a horizontally folding phone, our best guess would be a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip-like form factor with a clamshell flippable design for the second foldable.

Google's Pixel Fold, although quite late to the foldable game, will mainly end up giving Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 5 some competition. The Pixel Fold's form factor appears similar to Oppo's recently launched Find N2 model, with a wider display compared to the outgoing Galaxy Z Fold 4's taller form factor. The foldable has a 5.8-inch full-HD+ outer display and a 7.6-inch 6:5 aspect ratio, inner foldable display with a resolution of 1,840 x 2,208 pixels. Both displays have a 120Hz maximum refresh rate. The Pixel Fold also has an IPX8 rating for water resistance.

Its rear camera setup consists of a 49-megapixel primary camera, a 10.8-megapixel ultrawide, and a10.8-megapixel telephoto camera. There are two selfie cameras, one embedded in its outer display and a second one that sits above the inner folding display in its bezel. It is powered by the Google Tensor G2 processor, which is also available in its Pixel 7a, Pixel 7, and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones. Google Pixel Fold will only be available in Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US.

Samsung Galaxy A34 5G was recently launched by the company in India alongside the more expensive Galaxy A54 5G smartphone. How does this phone fare against the Nothing Phone 1 and the iQoo Neo 7? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Google Pixel Fold

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Display (Primary) 7.60-inch

Processor Google Tensor G2

Front Camera 9.5-megapixel + 8-megapixel

Rear Camera 48-megapixel + 10.8-megapixel + 10.8-megapixel

RAM 12GB

Storage 256GB

Battery Capacity 4821mAh

OS Android 13

Resolution 2208x1840 pixels

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Oppo Find N2

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Display (Primary) 7.60-inch

Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1

RAM 12GB

Storage 256GB

Battery Capacity 4520mAh

OS Android 13

Resolution 1792x1920 pixels

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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Very good build quality, IPX8 rated
Software optimised for multitasking
Very good system and gaming performance
All-day battery life
Improved main, telephoto cameras

Bad
Still a bit bulky when folded
Expensive

Read detailed Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 review

Display (Primary) 7.60-inch

Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1

Front Camera 10-megapixel + 4-megapixel

Rear Camera 50-megapixel + 12-megapixel + 10-megapixel

RAM 12GB

Storage 256GB, 512GB, 1TB

Battery Capacity 4400mAh

OS Android 12L

Resolution 2176x1812 pixels

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Google Pixel 7a

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Good performance
High refresh rate display
IP67 rating
Wireless charging
Good overall camera performance

Bad
One-day battery life
Limited storage
Heats up with camera usage
No bundled charger, slow charging speed

Read detailed Google Pixel 7a review

Display 6.10-inch

Processor Google Tensor G2

Front Camera 10.8-megapixel

Rear Camera 64-megapixel + 12-megapixel

RAM 8GB

Storage 128GB

Battery Capacity 4385mAh

OS Android 13

Resolution 1080x2400 pixels

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Google Pixel 7

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Sharp, 90Hz display
Good quality cameras
Good gaming performance
Bloatware-free software, timely updates
Good battery life
IP68 rating

Bad
Video recording could be better
Gets warm under load
No bundled charger
Relatively slow charging

Read detailed Google Pixel 7 review

Display 6.30-inch

Processor Google Tensor G2

Front Camera 10.8-megapixel

Rear Camera 50-megapixel + 12-megapixel

RAM 8GB

Storage 128GB

OS Android 13

Resolution 1080x2400 pixels

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Google Pixel 7 Pro

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Sharp, 120Hz display
Good quality cameras
Good gaming performance
Bloatware-free software, timely updates
Premium design, IP68 rating

Bad
Gets warm under load
No bundled charger
Underwhelming battery life
Relatively slow charging

Read detailed Google Pixel 7 Pro review

Display 6.70-inch

Processor Google Tensor G2

Front Camera 10.8-megapixel

Rear Camera 50-megapixel + 48-megapixel + 12-megapixel

RAM 12GB

Storage 128GB

OS Android 13

Resolution 1440x3120 pixels

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Further reading: Google, Foldabes

Sheldon Pinto

Email Sheldon Pinto

Sheldon Pinto is based in Mumbai, and has several years of experience in reviewing smartphones and gadgets. As a Senior Reviewer at Gadgets 360, you will always find him deeply immersed in his reviews, switching from one phone to another. When the battery dies out, Sheldon is always browsing the web for a good sci-fi movie or reading up on cars and bikes. He also loves creating lists of interesting places to eat and travel. Sheldon is available on Twitter at @shellshocd, and you can mail him at ...More