Camera downgrades? Guess I'll be skipping the Pixel 9 Pro Fold

I’m sure you spotted our Pixel 9 series camera exclusive, which points to a whole host of superb improvements that are bound to improve the Pixel 9, Pro, and Pro XL’s photography capabilities. It’s not all good news, however: The upcoming Pixel 9 Pro Fold will come with several camera downgrades, at least on paper. That is hardly a good start for an ultra-premium foldable expected to cost at least $1,800.

While the primary and telephoto cameras are unchanged, Google is shrinking down the size of the ultrawide, inner-selfie, and outer-selfie cameras. The selfie cameras are substantially smaller, going from around an already trim 1/3-inches to a tiny 1/3.94-inches. Smaller cameras typically mean less detail, worse dynamic range, and much weaker low-light performance. It’s not looking good for selfies or video calls. Ouch.

These might not be such worrying signs in isolation, but we already had some reservations about the camera setup in the original Google Pixel Fold. Our Pixel Fold vs Pixel 7 Pro camera shootout found less detail from the primary and zoom lenses. The ultrawide results were much closer, but the Fold had a narrower field of view. Selfies were also a closer call, thanks to Google’s software, which did a very good job evening out the general presentation between these phones despite their hardware differences. You did have to pixel-peep to see the differences, but that’s against a two-year-old phone.

2023’s Pixel 8 clearly improved the 7’s formula, and the upcoming Pixel 9’s sweeping changes mean the new models will be better still. This leaves the Pixel 9 Pro Fold looking decidedly off the pace of Google’s best photography phones, not to mention other market leaders. I don’t know about you, but that’s not going to help drive sales, even if I had close to $2,000 burning a hole in my pocket.

Bending over backwards to please no one

Based on our time with the Pixel Fold, its successor ideally needed a sharper zoom lens and arguably a slightly bigger primary sensor to help keep Google’s foldable in the frame as one of the better camera phones on the market. Photography is the Pixel calling card, after all, and Google’s ultra-premium smartphone should surely showcase the brand’s best capabilities.

Instead, we appear to have no upgrades in these key areas plus smaller sensors than the already-dated ultrawide and selfie formulas. Why? One theory is that Google is making the phone 2mm thinner. Cameras take up quite a bit of space, so smaller, thinner selfie modules might allow Google to save crucial space without worsening battery life. The Fold’s inner bezels also appear to be smaller than before, which might leave less room for the selfie cameras. Still, that doesn’t excuse the ultrawide sensor change, which should still fit inside the new square camera bump; it certainly looks larger than the traditional Pixel camera bar.

Presumably, Google has weighed the pros and cons, deciding that a (hopefully small) trade-down in selfie image quality (patched up by its best-in-class software) is worth a thinner and presumably lighter foldable. The first-gen model was admittedly pretty bulky and a slender profile is more important for foldables than for traditional slabs. Other brands — namely big player Samsung — have accepted camera trade-offs as a fundamental compromise for building wieldy foldables; why should Google be any different?

Well, you don’t win prizes by playing it safe, and Chinese foldables have shown us that you don’t have to compromise on the camera. Take the HONOR Magic V2, measuring just 9.9mm thin when closed (only 1mm thicker than the Pixel 8 Pro); it still finds room for two 50MP rear sensors plus a zoom lens. The vivo X Fold 3 Pro goes further, sporting a 50MP primary camera, 64MP 3x telephoto lens, and a 50MP ultrawide sensor that’s not far off the vivo X100 Pro’s excellent setup, and it’s still thinner than Google’s first-generation foldable. Clearly, it can be done, but Google seems to have other priorities for the 9 Pro Fold.

I’m still not convinced by many book-style foldables, mainly because they make such heavy compromises at a sky-high price point. Why spend $1,800 on a foldable with an inferior camera setup and worse battery life than a $999 classic-slab flagship? Presumably, all the new Google AI features will be included in the entire 9 series, or at least the Pro models, so the Fold won’t have anything to offer there. Given the so-so state of the original Fold’s big-screen apps, I can’t imagine a must-have foldable app will suddenly make these trade-offs worthwhile.

No matter how many other phones I use, photography (and software) keeps me coming back to the Pixel series. It’s probably the one thing that would finally convince me to part with hard-earned cash for a foldable. Unfortunately, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is turning its back on this unique selling point while rivals are forging ahead with a photography focus. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is shaping up to be a familiarly compromised foldable. Talk about boring, I want Google to lean into what it does best.

Perhaps I’m unrealistic in holding out for a Western foldable that has it all, but I can’t settle for anything less at these ludicrous prices, especially when you see what rival brands are building. Of course, the proof is in the pictures. We only have to wait until August 13 to see if Google’s bleeding-edge photography software and AI tools will keep the Pixel 9 Pro Fold near the forefront of the mobile camera space.