Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold Review: A refined Pixel 9 Pro Fold
Rating: 4/5
Let’s assume you want to buy a foldable phone — why not try a new form factor, something that, despite being available for more than five years, will take time to become the new normal, and something that won't disappoint you (much). Something that may not be perfect but gets the job done. So, the next step: a more detailed list of features. What do you look for? Maybe battery, usability of both screens, smooth, clean software, and long-term support. Ah! I have just the right option for you: The Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Or do I?
The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold was already a significant improvement for a second-generation foldable smartphone. Despite having a thin design, a big battery, and refined software for a foldable device, it had its fair share of shortcomings. These included sub-par cameras compared to the candybar Pro siblings, durability concerns, a processor that heated up under load, and just one colour option that simply wasn't enough. Priced at Rs 1,72,999, the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold aims to refine some of these issues. We used the phone for more than a month to find out exactly what’s on offer.
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold: Design and Display
With the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, or rather with the full Pixel 10 series, Google seems to have taken the Apple and Samsung route – if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Samsung and Apple have carried forward the same design of their Pro/Ultra models for so many years because it not only resonated with users but also they have been the most refined designs that they had to offer. Google achieved that a bit late with the Pixel 9 series. The protruded camera visor provided a fresh design and it was the best-looking Pixel phone by far. Google kept that design and introduced meaningful under-the-hood changes.
The Folds have the same story. Seriously – if you hold up the Pixel 10 Pro Fold next to the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, I challenge you to find the differences. There’s a slight change in camera island and hinge, rendering our Pixel 9 Pro Fold cover useless. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold was never too thick or too heavy, and we actually liked the way its rounded front display sat in its aluminium alloy frame, with the cover display being wide and more user friendly than competitors. To that extent, the similarity is fine.
The 8-inch Super Actua Flex foldable display remains impressive, offering the same quality experience as its predecessor. The display has slightly better brightness – up to 1,800 nits (HDR) and up to 3,000 nits (peak brightness) – as compared to its predecessor. This is an expansive screen that provides huge real estate for specific tasks such as running Adobe services for editing videos and photos. The extra space saves the scrolling time, making the process a bit timesaving.
There’s also a minor change in the cover display. It is slightly less sharp but brighter. Frankly, there is not much difference in daily real world usage. It’s a 6.4-inch OLED panel with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection and up to 3,000 nits (peak) brightness as compared to 2700 nits. The phone feels really premium to hold and to look at.
The good news is that the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is the most durable foldable phone available in the market. In fact, it is the first foldable phone to ship with robust IP68 protection, which is as resistant to dust as it is to water. The hinge now closes more tightly, virtually leaving no space for dust to get into the hinge. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold also gets magnets and it supports Pixelsnap, Qi2, MagSafe accessories.
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold: Performance
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold runs on the Tensor G5 chip, which brought improvements over the previous generation’s processor that tended to heat up under load. The performance is solid for everyday tasks, multitasking and running Google’s AI features, though the excitement around the chipset is somewhat muted given the overall incremental nature of this year’s updates.
Like the Pixel 10 Pro XL, it gets all the new features that Tensor G5 — paired with 16GB of RAM and 256GB storage — can handle. These include Magic Cue, Camera Coach, Auto Best Take, NoteBookLM and more. The software experience is smooth and clean, with Material 3 Expressive providing a nice visual step forward. Everything else, such as timely updates, long-term support, quarterly feature drops and a year’s Gemini Pro with AI subscription, is all offered.
Unfortunately, as we wrote in our Pixel 10 Pro XL review, it was too hard to trigger Magic Cue and most of the time it didn’t work. The addition of NotebookLM is nice but I prefer Notes to collaborate with my friends and family members.
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold: Cameras
Just as the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL retained the design and cameras of their predecessors, Google employed the same continuity in the new Fold device. The Pixel 10 Pro phones do offer 100x Pro Res Zoom, but there’s no such capability on the ultra-expensive Pixel 10 Pro Fold. It packs a 48MP primary sensor, a 10.8MP 5x telephoto sensor, and a 10.5MP ultrawide sensor on the main camera. On the front are 10MP cameras for selfies.
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s camera is fine, but not as good as its Pro siblings. Photos captured by the system offered authentic, pretty much true-to-life colours and demonstrated exceptional low-light performance when utilising Night Sight mode. Moreover, the unique foldable form factor enhances versatility, allowing us to leverage the main cameras for high-quality selfies. The Pixel 10 series lineup seems to have the same underlying algorithm for post-processing as the photos look photos look very much in line with each other.
All in all, if you are purchasing a Pixel smartphone, you have to decide – whether to have a phone with an expansive foldable screen or to have a better set of cameras.
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold: Battery
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold continues to offer the big battery life that made its predecessor appealing. It packs a 5,015mAh battery (as compared to 4,650mAh on Pixel 9 Pro Fold) and offers fast charging as well as wireless charging. We were able to squeeze out two days of battery using it as our secondary phone and about a day and quarter as our primary phone. It did run out of juice during extremely demanding days before the day got over. Combined with the refined software optimization and the durability improvements, the battery remains a strong point for the device.
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold: Verdict
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold stands as a solid, yet practically refined, version of its predecessor, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. With this latest foldable offering, Google appears to be prioritising caution, focusing on ironing out previous issues and adding only a few key enhancements, such as the IP68 rating and Pixelsnap support, to justify the label of an upgrade.
While the absence of significant camera improvements and minimal meaningful changes over the Pixel 9 Pro Fold make it difficult to strongly recommend for current owners, the device is not substantially different, which limits excitement for those looking for a dramatic leap forward.
Having said this, the inclusion of the Tensor G5 chipset is expected to play a crucial long-term role, as several future software features requiring advanced processing power may only be compatible with the fifth generation of Tensor or later; for instance, Live Translate, Call Assist or Google may eventually roll out a fine-tuned version of Magic Cue that remains unavailable on the older Tensor G4 chip.
Let’s assume you want to buy a foldable phone — why not try a new form factor, something that, despite being available for more than five years, will take time to become the new normal, and something that won't disappoint you (much). Something that may not be perfect but gets the job done. So, the next step: a more detailed list of features. What do you look for? Maybe battery, usability of both screens, smooth, clean software, and long-term support. Ah! I have just the right option for you: The Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Or do I?
The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold was already a significant improvement for a second-generation foldable smartphone. Despite having a thin design, a big battery, and refined software for a foldable device, it had its fair share of shortcomings. These included sub-par cameras compared to the candybar Pro siblings, durability concerns, a processor that heated up under load, and just one colour option that simply wasn't enough. Priced at Rs 1,72,999, the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold aims to refine some of these issues. We used the phone for more than a month to find out exactly what’s on offer.
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold: Design and Display
With the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, or rather with the full Pixel 10 series, Google seems to have taken the Apple and Samsung route – if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Samsung and Apple have carried forward the same design of their Pro/Ultra models for so many years because it not only resonated with users but also they have been the most refined designs that they had to offer. Google achieved that a bit late with the Pixel 9 series. The protruded camera visor provided a fresh design and it was the best-looking Pixel phone by far. Google kept that design and introduced meaningful under-the-hood changes.
The Folds have the same story. Seriously – if you hold up the Pixel 10 Pro Fold next to the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, I challenge you to find the differences. There’s a slight change in camera island and hinge, rendering our Pixel 9 Pro Fold cover useless. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold was never too thick or too heavy, and we actually liked the way its rounded front display sat in its aluminium alloy frame, with the cover display being wide and more user friendly than competitors. To that extent, the similarity is fine.
The 8-inch Super Actua Flex foldable display remains impressive, offering the same quality experience as its predecessor. The display has slightly better brightness – up to 1,800 nits (HDR) and up to 3,000 nits (peak brightness) – as compared to its predecessor. This is an expansive screen that provides huge real estate for specific tasks such as running Adobe services for editing videos and photos. The extra space saves the scrolling time, making the process a bit timesaving.
There’s also a minor change in the cover display. It is slightly less sharp but brighter. Frankly, there is not much difference in daily real world usage. It’s a 6.4-inch OLED panel with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection and up to 3,000 nits (peak) brightness as compared to 2700 nits. The phone feels really premium to hold and to look at.
The good news is that the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is the most durable foldable phone available in the market. In fact, it is the first foldable phone to ship with robust IP68 protection, which is as resistant to dust as it is to water. The hinge now closes more tightly, virtually leaving no space for dust to get into the hinge. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold also gets magnets and it supports Pixelsnap, Qi2, MagSafe accessories.
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold: Performance
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold runs on the Tensor G5 chip, which brought improvements over the previous generation’s processor that tended to heat up under load. The performance is solid for everyday tasks, multitasking and running Google’s AI features, though the excitement around the chipset is somewhat muted given the overall incremental nature of this year’s updates.
Like the Pixel 10 Pro XL, it gets all the new features that Tensor G5 — paired with 16GB of RAM and 256GB storage — can handle. These include Magic Cue, Camera Coach, Auto Best Take, NoteBookLM and more. The software experience is smooth and clean, with Material 3 Expressive providing a nice visual step forward. Everything else, such as timely updates, long-term support, quarterly feature drops and a year’s Gemini Pro with AI subscription, is all offered.
Unfortunately, as we wrote in our Pixel 10 Pro XL review, it was too hard to trigger Magic Cue and most of the time it didn’t work. The addition of NotebookLM is nice but I prefer Notes to collaborate with my friends and family members.
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold: Cameras
Just as the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL retained the design and cameras of their predecessors, Google employed the same continuity in the new Fold device. The Pixel 10 Pro phones do offer 100x Pro Res Zoom, but there’s no such capability on the ultra-expensive Pixel 10 Pro Fold. It packs a 48MP primary sensor, a 10.8MP 5x telephoto sensor, and a 10.5MP ultrawide sensor on the main camera. On the front are 10MP cameras for selfies.
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s camera is fine, but not as good as its Pro siblings. Photos captured by the system offered authentic, pretty much true-to-life colours and demonstrated exceptional low-light performance when utilising Night Sight mode. Moreover, the unique foldable form factor enhances versatility, allowing us to leverage the main cameras for high-quality selfies. The Pixel 10 series lineup seems to have the same underlying algorithm for post-processing as the photos look photos look very much in line with each other.
All in all, if you are purchasing a Pixel smartphone, you have to decide – whether to have a phone with an expansive foldable screen or to have a better set of cameras.
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold: Battery
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold continues to offer the big battery life that made its predecessor appealing. It packs a 5,015mAh battery (as compared to 4,650mAh on Pixel 9 Pro Fold) and offers fast charging as well as wireless charging. We were able to squeeze out two days of battery using it as our secondary phone and about a day and quarter as our primary phone. It did run out of juice during extremely demanding days before the day got over. Combined with the refined software optimization and the durability improvements, the battery remains a strong point for the device.
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold: Verdict
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold stands as a solid, yet practically refined, version of its predecessor, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. With this latest foldable offering, Google appears to be prioritising caution, focusing on ironing out previous issues and adding only a few key enhancements, such as the IP68 rating and Pixelsnap support, to justify the label of an upgrade.
While the absence of significant camera improvements and minimal meaningful changes over the Pixel 9 Pro Fold make it difficult to strongly recommend for current owners, the device is not substantially different, which limits excitement for those looking for a dramatic leap forward.
Having said this, the inclusion of the Tensor G5 chipset is expected to play a crucial long-term role, as several future software features requiring advanced processing power may only be compatible with the fifth generation of Tensor or later; for instance, Live Translate, Call Assist or Google may eventually roll out a fine-tuned version of Magic Cue that remains unavailable on the older Tensor G4 chip.
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