Google's Pixel 9 'Pro' Fold rebrand is just an attempt to cover up spec mediocrity

Before countless leaks, we all expected Google’s next-gen foldable to be called the Pixel Fold 2. That would be a logical name for the successor to the Google Pixel Fold, after all. Instead, we already have a rebrand — the Pixel 9 Pro Fold aligns the new foldable with the broader Pixel 9 series. It’s a bit odd, though, least of all because it obscures which foldable generation Google is in. Maybe that’s the point?

There’s no clear-cut rule for naming products, of course. Samsung is content with an S and Z distinction between its classic and foldable phones. OPPO has the Find N series for its foldables compared to the traditional Find X flagship range. However, Motorola bundles all of its best phones under the Razr moniker, and HONOR’s Magic series accounts for all its flagships, foldable or not. Still, Google’s sudden about-face is harder to explain. Does it want us to believe the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is just a foldable version of the 9 Pro? Because it really isn’t.

Perhaps the most exciting change to the range is that the compact Pixel 9 Pro and larger 9 Pro XL sport the very best smartphone technology Google has to offer. The Pro moniker designates feature parity, providing Google’s best performance, camera suite, storage options, build quality and protection, and all the other capabilities you’d expect from a premium flagship. However, that promise only applies to Google’s non-foldable phones.

The Fold dilutes this Pro tag. As is typical for foldables, you trade down water and dust resistance from an IP68 rating to IPX8, meaning no protection against dust ingress. If you’re a heavy media user, you can’t buy the Fold with more than 512GB storage (but at least it comes with 256GB minimum); only the non-foldable Pros come in a 1TB configuration. The 6.3-inch external display isn’t as good as the regular Pixel 9 Pro either; it has a lower resolution, lower peak and HDR brightness, and only drops from 120Hz to 60Hz rather than as low as 1Hz to save power on static content.

The Fold is slower to charge too; it’s capable of just 21W of power versus 27W on the Pro and 37W on the XL. The wireless charging situation is even worse. The Fold is capped at a bog standard 7.5W, far off the 21W available to the 8 Pro via the Pixel Stand (2nd gen) and even slower than the 15W Pixel Stand and 12W Qi charging available to the baseline Pixel 9. The Fold doesn’t support battery share either, so it can’t be used to power up your other flagging gadgets.

But perhaps the biggest offense is found in the camera department. Yes, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold has a competent triple-camera array, but it’s not in the same league as the Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL. The main, ultrawide, and telephoto sensors are all notably smaller in the Fold and offer inferior autofocus, meaning more noise in low-light environments and a greater reliance on Google’s admittedly excellent software to plug the gaps. While probably not noticeable in daylight, these differences are bound to show up in more difficult shooting situations and when using features like Astrophotography.

The lower-resolution telephoto camera also can’t take 10x “optical quality” crops and only supports Super Res zoom out to 20x compared to 30x on the other two. That means inferior-looking snaps when zooming in at concerts or trying to snap distant wildlife. Likewise, the selfie camera is closer in resolution to the affordable Pixel 9 than the much-upgraded sensors in the Pro and XL, but it doesn’t list autofocus either, again hinting at weaker performance in difficult lighting.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the Fold also doesn’t receive 8K cloud-based video upscaling, putting it in the same basket as the significantly cheaper Pixel 9. It can’t take full-res (48MP) photos, there’s no cinematic blur, no action pan. Ouch. For a brand that prides itself on media capture, the Fold has a lot of downgrades compared to Google’s best setup.

This isn’t to say the Fold is miles off the pace of the non-folding Pros. It still has the remainder of Google’s best software features and Pro camera controls. Plus, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold opens up a whole new world of multitasking and content viewing on that large inner display. It’s also improved over Google’s previous attempt, providing more years of support, a thinner frame, and a portrait-oriented inner display.

This is still a flagship foldable, but with an eyewatering $1,799 price tag and a new Pro moniker, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re buying the absolute best of everything that Google has to offer. However, looking past the rename, it’s clear that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold doesn’t match the rest of the 9 Pro series in every facet, particularly photography. That’s a letdown.