Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold Review – Power Meets Flexibility
Google’s latest foldable flagship, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, might look familiar at first glance, but beneath that hefty frame lies a surprisingly refined upgrade. With a larger battery, an entirely new Tensor G5 chipset, and Google’s ever-expanding suite of AI-driven features, the company clearly hopes this “flexible giant” will tempt premium buyers—despite its eye-watering price tag.
The Fold starts at £1,749, climbing beyond £2,000 if you go all-in for 1 TB of storage. So, does it justify the cost, or should you look toward Samsung’s slimmer Galaxy Z Fold 7 instead? After a week of testing, here’s how Google’s latest bendable beast holds up.
While Samsung has spent years trimming its foldables down, Google seems unbothered by the race for thinness. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold remains a chunky 258 grams, a full gram heavier than before. It’s solid, sturdy, and very much a “you’ll-feel-it-in-your-pocket” phone. Slip it into your jeans, and you might start checking your waistband out of sheer gravity.
That said, the build quality is undeniably premium. The phone uses Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on both front and back, paired with an aluminum frame and glossy hinge. Two finishes are available—Moonstone and Jade Green—and both look elegant in person. It’s only a pity the hinge isn’t matte, since fingerprints tend to collect there faster than you’d like.
Unlike Samsung’s lighter design philosophy, the Pixel’s bulk brings an upside: IP68 water and dust resistance, a rating superior to Samsung’s IP48 on the Z Fold 7. You can drop Google’s foldable in water without a panic attack—as long as you dry it off aftafterward
On the outside, the 6.4-inch OLED cover screen carries a 1080 × 2364 resolution and a 20:9 aspect ratio. It’s bright, colorful, and supports a 120 Hz refresh rate. Oddly, Google skipped LTPO technology here, which means refresh scaling isn’t as efficient as Samsung’s panel. Still, outdoor visibility is superb and colors pop beautifully when watching HDR10 content or gaming.
Flip it open and you’re greeted by an 8-inch OLED LTPO main display with 2076 × 2152 resolution and peak brightness around 3,000 nits. The screen is crisp, vivid, and bright enough to use under direct sunlight. Both panels have a pre-applied protective layer that you’re not meant to remove—glossy but surprisingly clear.
The infamous crease remains. Samsung’s is slightly smoother, while Google’s feels more pronounced to the touch. It’s not distracting during normal use, but you’ll notice it when light hits the hinge at an angle.
Powering the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is Google’s new Tensor G5 chipset. Early online chatter hasn’t been flattering, but in practice, it performs competently. Everyday tasks, multitasking, and casual gaming are fluid. Games like Wuthering Waves run smoothly at medium settings, hovering between 40–50 fps, though heavy 3D titles like Genshin Impact still favor Samsung’s Snapdragon 8 Elite inside the Z Fold 7.
Where Google lags in raw horsepower, it compensates with intelligent optimization. The phone rarely overheats, and switching between apps feels seamless. The only hiccup encountered was minor Bluetooth interference—occasional brief dropouts when streaming music. Hopefully, a software patch fixes that soon.
Software and AI – Android 16 with Google’s Magic
Running on Android 16, the Fold delivers the clean, bloat-free Pixel experience—no Samsung-style duplication of apps and services. Both brands now promise seven years of OS and security updates, an impressive commitment for longevity.
AI is where Google tries hardest to stand out. Features like Circle to Search, Live Translate, and real-time transcription work beautifully. The new Pixel Screenshots tool is especially clever: it scans every screenshot you’ve ever taken so you can instantly retrieve information (flight times, bar names, itineraries—you name it).
However, not every new trick lands. The much-advertised Magic Q feature is more gimmicky than game-changing so far, and multitasking remains limited to two simultaneous apps, whereas Samsung allows up to three or floating windows. Still, dragging and resizing apps is smooth, and productivity feels natural on the large screen.
Here’s where Google’s thicker frame pays off. Inside sits a 5,000 mAh battery, noticeably larger than Samsung’s 4,400 mAh cell. The result: a full day of heavy use without power anxiety.
Expect around 8 hours of continuous on-screen time on the main display or 6–7 hours of video calling on a single charge. Gaming drains it faster, of course, but still outperforms most foldables in endurance.
Charging isn’t record-breaking—about 50% in 30 minutes and over an hour to full—but you get Qi 2 wireless charging and reverse wireless support. Both wired and wireless speeds are comparable to Samsung’s latest.
Foldables rarely include their brand’s top-tier camera systems, but Google manages to deliver near-flagship quality. The main sensor is a 48-megapixel Quad PD 10-over-2-inch unit, paired with a 10.8 MP telephoto (5× optical zoom) and a 10.5 MP ultrawide.
Photos look natural, with realistic tones and crisp detail. Google’s image processing remains among the best for point-and-shoot results—less saturated than Samsung’s vivid style but arguably more authentic. Low-light performance is strong, with clean textures and minimal grain unless lighting is extremely poor.
Zoom quality holds steady up to about 10×, but deteriorates beyond that. Meanwhile, Samsung’s 200 MP sensor captures brighter, more contrasty images that some may prefer for social media.
Both phones include AI-powered editing tools like object erasure, background replacement, and Magic Editor for rearranging elements.
Video recording hits 4K 60 fps on the Pixel, while Samsung stretches to 8K. Google adds its Video Boost feature, which uploads your footage to the cloud for enhanced color and brightness—especially useful for dimly lit environments.
Two 10 MP selfie cameras (inside and outside) handle video calls and casual selfies respectably, though nothing groundbreaking there.
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s side-mounted fingerprint sensor doubles as a power button and is fast and accurate, even with slightly damp fingers. Face unlock is also dependable, working well in dim rooms or when wearing a cap—though sunglasses still confuse it.
The hinge mechanism feels sturdy and allows the phone to stay propped at nearly any angle—ideal for hands-free video calls or tabletop streaming. Despite the added thickness, handling is comfortable, partly thanks to the raised camera bar, which doubles as a natural resting ledge for your finger.
Google includes dual SIM support (physical + eSIM), satellite SOS, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4. Internal storage starts at 256 GB and scales up to 1 TB, though there’s no microSD slot.
Audio quality impresses: the stereo speakers are loud, clear, and balanced, perfect for Netflix sessions or podcasts. Only the intermittent Bluetooth crackle mars an otherwise solid multimedia experience.
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is Google’s most polished foldable yet and arguably the best-behaved member of the Pixel 10 family. It’s robust, powerful enough for most users, and finally delivers dependable battery life—a rare feat among foldables.
However, its weight, bulk, and less-capable gaming performance compared with Samsung’s Z Fold 7 may give power users pause. If you prioritize portability and peak performance, Samsung still leads. But if you want clean Android, smarter AI, and better endurance, Google’s Fold makes a strong case—provided you can stomach the price.
In short: the Pixel 10 Pro Fold doesn’t reinvent the foldable wheel, but it refines Google’s version beautifully. It’s a confident, capable device that feels ready for real-world use, not just tech demos.
If you love reading comics, multitasking on the go, or diving deep into Google’s AI ecosystem, this might just be your perfect pocket-sized tabletable
Rating: 8.5 / 10
✅ Superb display quality
✅ Excellent battery endurance
✅ Polished camera system
❌ Heavy and thick
❌ Slow charging, minor bugs
❌ Not ideal for serious gaming
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