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Google, after several delays, is finally going to launch its first foldable phone. This should come as no surprise, as several companies have jumped onto the foldable phone train. This phone, unofficially dubbed the Pixel Fold, will be one of the most exciting devices of the year, but it could be the wrong time to do so.
We’ve been hearing about this phone for a few years now, and we expected to have seen some kind of announcement from the company now. However, it’s been pretty elusive with a launch expected to launch sometime halfway through the year. Looking at the leaked renders of the phone, it’s a good-looking phone and it looks like it will have a premium design.
We expect the phone to use Google’s own Tensor Chip to power it with other premium specs. Also, we can’t forget about the software. We know that, since Google owns Android, the software will (or could) be perfectly optimized for the phone.
So, what’s the issue?
Powerful specs, great design, and perfectly optimized software. Given those details, the Pixel Fold is looking like a no-brainer. So, why is it launching at the wrong time? It all has to do with where the foldable phone is now in terms of its development.
When the foldable phone first launched (sorry for making you relive those painful memories), it was a mess. They were fragile; screens were being ruined by grains of sand. Also, they were being scratched by all sorts of objects. We all took note of why the foldable phone needed some major improvements.
Those improvements came over the next couple of years as Samsung, tailed by companies like Oppo, Xiaomi, Honor, and Vivo threw their hats in. Over the years, foldable phones got thinner bodies, more sturdy glass, better hinges, and better aspect ratios. However, those first few years didn’t see too much innovation. It was an era of iterative steps forward.
If the Pixel Fold had launched last year, it would have been maybe one step behind the competition, but it would have been able to throw blows with the others. So, what makes 2023 such a bad year? A lot of it has to do with what changes we’re seeing now. We’re at a bit of an acceleration point with foldable phone technology. If Google launches the Pixel Fold as is, it’ll be far behind the competition.
Honor: the hinge
Companies like Samsung and Honor are making major leaps forward with some of the most important aspects of the foldable phone: the hinge and the ingress protection.
Starting off with Honor. The company’s foldable phone is the Honor Vs. The company took the hinge of the phone and greatly reduced the number of moving parts needed for it to operate.
While the Galaxy Z Fold 4 needed nearly 100 parts for the hinge to work, Honor only used 4. That’s huge! There are far fewer moving parts. This means less opportunity for mechanical issues. Also, this makes it so much harder for particles to get into crucial components. Who knows if this also helped reduce the manufacturing cost?
Honor managed to do this while reducing the crease in the middle of the phone and keeping it sturdy. So, we know that this is going to lead to more innovations down the road.
Samsung: dust resistance
Next up, we have Samsung. Reports are pointing to the Samsung Galaxy Z 5 foldable phones having ingress protection from particles. That is major. Remember, your first-gen Galaxy Z Fold could be snuffed out by one particle of sand.
Making a foldable phone that’s resistant to particles is immense. Having a Galaxy Fold as resistant as a Galaxy S phone was the stuff of dreams back in the early days of foldables. This will do well to help push foldable phones closer to the mainstream.
What does this have to do with the Pixel Fold?
Right now, we’re in an era where companies are fixing some of the most crucial bugs that have plagued foldable phones. Google’s launching a foldable phone in 2023, but it most likely has the DNA of a 2021 foldable. It most likely won’t have any ingress protection and it will have a classic hinge. This gives it some of the most troublesome idiosyncrasies of older foldables.
What makes this worse is that if it launches later in the year, it’s going to be going up against the latest Galaxy foldables. Samsung has been tweaking and tweaking and tweaking its foldable phone designs since day one. They launch with full IP68 water and dust resistance, that’ll look really bad on Google.
If it had launched last year, the Pixel Fold would have only seemed like a step behind. Other phone companies launched their own first foldables against Samsung’s third and fourth, and they held up just fine. However, with just these recent innovations, the Pixel Fold will look several leaps behind. And, at the projected price of around $1800, this isn’t doing Google any favors.
Could Software save the Pixel Fold?
So, the Pixel Fold is going to be several steps behind the competition, it will be expensive, and it will probably be launching around the next Galaxy Foldables. If anything, Software could be this phone’s saving grace.
All of the main foldables on the market are using Android, but none of the OEMs have full control over the software. Foldables really didn’t have too much utility until Google launched Android 12L with tablet/foldable phone optimizations.
Google holds the reins for Android, and it has the opportunity to take the operating system and optimize it for the Pixel Fold. We can’t deny that this could be the tie-breaker for people deciding which foldable to get.
None of the foldables on the market give you an experience remotely close to stock Android. The only exception is the team of Motorola foldables. Having foldable phone software straight from Google will definitely sway some people over to the Pixel side. Google could bank on current Pixel users who are curious about getting a foldable phone.
The only question is whether the software will be enough to justify the drawbacks. 2023 is NOT a good year for the global economy. Because of this, people planning on getting foldables are changing those plans, and that’s far from the worst-case scenario.
People are going to be more particular about what phones they get, especially if they’re going to drop upwards of $1800 on it. The question is: would you spend $1800 on a dated foldable phone just for the Pixel software?
Would waiting have helped?
So, if the Pixel Fold had launched last year, it might not have been so bad. But what about launching next year? Would that help? Honestly, it might. It would be frustrating as all heck for people excited about this phone, but it’d give Google more time to implement more recent innovations.
These are crucial innovations happening now that Google could learn from. Think about it, why do you think Apple hasn’t launched a foldable yet? Apple is particular about which products it puts out and it strikes when the time is right.
Google could collaborate with Samsung to help build the hinge, make it dust-resistant, and do much more. The two companies are basically husband and wife already.
So, Google is going to launch this phone in 2023. Let’s just hope that it turns out to be a compelling enough device to prove nay-sayers wrong.
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