How to pre-order the Pixel Fold and get a Pixel Watch for free

Google may have arrived late to the foldable party, but it looks to have been worth the wait. The Google Pixel Fold was announced at Google I/O last month, and it appears to be a polished, if pricey, new challenger to the Galaxy Z Fold 4. For those wondering how to get their Pixel Fold pre-order sorted, we’ve answered your questions here.

Where can you pre-order the Google Pixel Fold?

The Pixel Fold is available for pre-order from the online Google Store, and there are some very good trade-in values available. We’ve gone into that more in the section below. While the trade-in values aren’t as good as those on offer from Verizon, it’s worth remembering that this is to get yourself an unlocked model, compared to a device locked to Verizon and with you committing to a contract.

Ordering from the Google Store can also land you some nice freebies. Most notable is a free Google Pixel Watch worth $349.99 or $399.99, depending if you go for the Bluetooth or LTE version. If that wasn’t enough of an incentive, you also get a couple of free subscriptions to Google services: three months of YouTube Premium and six months of Google One.

Amazon is due to start its pre-order period today, on June 20. It isn’t currently showing as available, but when this gets rectified, you’ll be able to get it here. This is the other main way to get an unlocked Google Pixel Fold, although you won’t get many extra buying incentives this way.

AT&T has the Pixel Fold available for pre-order now, and it is the best option to get a discount on the device without a trade-in. By choosing or upgrading to an eligible unlimited plan, you’ll reduce the cost of the phone from $53 per month to just $25 per month. That works out to savings of $900 over the life of your 36-month contract. Get started on AT&T’s landing page if you like this option.

Verizon is offering the same $900 savings when you pre-order the Pixel Fold, but it involves trading in your old device. The good news here is that many devices that are now very old still land you the maximum $900 trade-in value, such as the Apple iPhone 11 and the OnePlus 8T. You can find out more about the Verizon pre-order offer here.

How to pre-order the Google Pixel Fold

Here are the simple steps to sort out your Pixel Fold pre-order through the Google Store:

1. Go to the Pixel Fold product page.
2. Press Pre-order.
3. Choose which color you would like. Your choices are Porcelain or Obsidian.
4. Select your storage size. As it stands, both colors are available in the 256GB configuration for $1,799. Obsidian is your only option if you prefer to pay $1,919 for the 512GB model.
5. Choose a carrier. At the time of writing, you could only pre-order an unlocked Pixel Fold or go with Google Fi.
6. Indicate whether you want to trade in your old device.
7. Add Preferred Care if you want to go with Google’s device protection scheme.
8. Decide if you want a free Pixel Watch with your Pixel Fold. There are no strings attached to this gift, so it’s a no-brainer.
9. Press Add to cart.
10. On the next page, select any additional accessories you would like to add to your order, or press Go to cart.
11. Check your order summary is correct and hit Proceed to checkout.
12. Complete your payment information and confirm your order.

There have been some reports of orders being canceled accidentally by Google. If this happens to you, you may need to reconfirm your payment card.

Can you trade in your old phone for the Pixel Fold?

Yyou can trade in your old phone for the Pixel Fold through the Google Store. This is a handy way to offset part of the hefty $1,799 price tag of the new foldable, and some of the trade-in values on offer from Google are very generous, although they vary quite significantly.

Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, LG, and Motorola devices are all accepted. You need to specify the model of your old phone, the storage capacity, and whether the handset is in good condition. You’ll then be given an estimate of the trade-in value.

Your phone is considered to be in good condition if it turns on, is free of cracks, and the screen works properly. This could be subjective, so you can tick a box when getting your estimate to indicate whether you want the old device back instead of a lower credit amount should Google’s inspection judge the condition differently to you.

The most you can score in trade-in credit is $950 for a good-condition iPhone 14 Pro Max, and you can earn $900 off if you want to switch over from the Galaxy Z Fold 4. But the trade-in values drop off if you’re upgrading from another Pixel, with even the 512GB Pixel 7 Pro drawing a maximum credit of $420. We could deduce that Google may be particularly interested in luring users away from its competitors.

Once you’ve got a trade-in estimate and pre-ordered your Pixel Fold, you don’t need to do anything until it arrives. You then have 30 days to transfer your data and factory reset your old device before mailing it back in the pre-paid packaging. In the following days, you’ll get an email confirming your old device’s value and will receive the credit amount soon afterward.

AT&T and Verizon are also offering trade-in deals, with the latter being the more generous of the two.

When will Google start shipping the Pixel Fold?

According to the Pixel Fold pre-order page, Google will deliver the new phone between June 27 and July 3. This suggests that June 27 is the first shipping date. We can also infer that this will be the first day the Pixel Fold becomes available to buy in stores, although there is no official confirmation of this from Google.

The carriers that offer the device for pre-order are not quite as expedient, by their own estimates. AT&T advises that delivery will be by July 13, while Verizon states that you’ll get it by July 18.

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