Google’s $1,799 Pixel 9 Pro Fold arrives with 8-inch inner display and Gemini

Pixel Phones dominated Tuesday’s Made by Google 2024 event. In addition to a full refresh for the Pixel 9 line, the company unveiled the successor to its first foldable, the Pixel Fold. Google rejiggered its numbering scheme this time out, jumping to Pixel 9 Pro Fold for what is its second take on the category.

The new name puts the device in line with the rest of Google’s mobile portfolio. Time will tell whether the new “Pro” bit presages the arrival of a lower cost foldable, or if it’s simply a nod to the high-end pricing and specs on the $1,799 device.

The first Pixel Fold won us over when it launched last summer. It was a well-rounded device that featured a more manageable footprint/aspect ratio than the category dominated Samsung Galaxy Z Fold.

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold looks to be more of the same, which is a good thing. The biggest change on the hardware side is the move from a 7.6-inch (same as the Galaxy Z Fold 6) to a full 8-inch internal display when opened flat. Those extra fractions of an inch put the handset in the running for largest display on a foldable. By way of comparison, the latest iPad Mini’s display is only 0.3 inch larger.

That main screen sports a 2076 x 2152 OLED display at 373 pixels per inch. The refresh rate maxes out at 120 Hz and the brightness at 2,700 nits. The outer display is larger as well, bumped up from 5.8 to 6.3 inches. That one has 422 pixels per inch, with a 1080 x 2424 resolution. It’s covered in Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

The handset is thinner than its predecessor, as well. It’s 0.4 inch folded and 0.2 inch when open. The battery is 4650 mAh, which Google claims will get you more than 24 hours on a charge. That number jumps to 72 hours with Extreme Battery Saver mode. Like the rest of its Pixel 9 brethren, the foldable is powered by Google’s new Tensor G4 chip. That’s coupled with 16GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage.

The back of the phone inherits the even more pronounced camera bar that’s been rolled out across the line. There are three rear-facing cameras: a 48-megapixel wide, 10.5-megapixel ultra-wide and a 10.8-megapixel telephoto. The later does 5x optical zoom and up 20x with Super Res Zoom, though that’s going to start to introduce noise into the image.

The big news is, of course, the addition of Gemini as the default smart assistant. The handset comes with a year of Google One AI Premium, which includes Gemini Advanced, Gemini in Gmail and Docs, along with 2TB of Google Cloud storage. The handset also arrives with seven years of guaranteed OS and security updates, along with new features from Pixel Drops.

The Fold is coming to the U.S., Canada, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, the U.K., Australia, India, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. It ships September 4.