Google’s third-generation folding phone promises to be more durable than all others as the first with full water and dust resistance while also packing lots of advanced AI and an adaptable set of cameras.
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold builds on last year’s excellent 9 Pro Fold by doing away with gears in the hinge along its spine allowing it to deal with dust, which has been the achilles heel of all foldable phones until now, gumming up the works in a way that just isn’t a problem for regular slab phones.
But, as with all foldable phones, the Pixel is very expensive, costing £1,749 (€1,899/$1,799/A$2,699), sitting far above the £1,199 Pixel 10 Pro XL and rubbing shoulders with the equally pricey Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.
Improved durability aside, not a lot has visibly changed on the outside since the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. The external screen is a smidgen larger thanks to thinner bezels, and the inside and outside screens are slightly brighter than before. The Fold is a great shape when closed for phone-based tasks and can comfortably fit two full-size apps side by side on the excellent internal screen when open.
However, the Pixel is heavy and looks chunky compared with Samsung’s impressively thin and light Z Fold 7. It is 258g, which you can feel in use and the pocket, while being significantly thicker than a normal phone and the latest rivals.
The Fold has the same Google Tensor G5 chip as the rest of the Pixel 10 line with 16GB of RAM and at least 256GB of storage. It performs just as well as the Pixel 10 Pro, feeling rapid in use and capable of handling most tasks without breaking a sweat. Those seeking the highest frame rates in high-end games are better served by rivals with Qualcomm’s top Snapdragon chip, however.
As with all foldables, the battery life of the Fold varies a lot depending on which screen you use most. On light days with about five hours of active screen use spread equally between the inside and outside displays, mostly on wifi, the Pixel managed about 38 to 40 hours between charges. On heavier days on 5G with more inside screen use, it lasted about 28 hours, ending the day with 25% left in the tank. That’s not terrible but is some way behind the best rivals or big-screen slab phones, including the Pixel 10 Pro XL.
Specifications
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Outside screen: 6.4in FHD+ 120Hz OLED (408ppi)
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Inside screen: 8in 120Hz OLED (373ppi)
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Processor: Google Tensor G5
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RAM: 16GB
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Storage: 256GB, 512GB or 1TB
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Operating system: Android 16
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Camera: 48MP wide, 10.5MP ultrawide, 10.8MP 5x telephoto; two 10MP selfie cameras
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Connectivity: 5G, eSim, USB-C, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 6, UWB, Thread, GNSS
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Water resistance: IP68 (1.5 metres for 30 minutes)
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Dimensions folded: 155.2 x 76.3 x 10.8mm
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Dimensions unfolded: 155.2 x 150.4 x 5.2mm
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Weight: 258g
Android 16, Magic Cue and Gemini
The Fold runs the same Android 16 software as the rest of the Pixel 10 Pro line, which introduces a bold and colourful appearance plus lots of cutting-edge AI tools crammed into almost every corner of the phone.
Some of the highlights include the Gemini chatbot, which can see and hear what you do, interact with your apps and is generally quite useful, plus a new real-time translation system for phone calls that replicates the caller’s voice.
Magic Cue is the standout feature, which is a little helper that runs in the background on your device, processing your data from various Google apps and popping up with timely information when you need it. It understands context, so when a friend texts to ask about when your flight lands it will suggest your flight details from your calendar so you can paste them straight into your conversation, or when you call a business it will show your order details from Gmail right in the phone app. It is low-key great.
It also has a few modifications to make the most of the big internal screen. A task bar at the bottom of the display makes putting apps into split screen easy. You can also resize apps beyond the border of the screen, similar to the Honor Magic V5 and OnePlus Open, which adds a bit of flexibility to running two apps side by side.
The Fold also comes with a subscription for Google AI Pro for a year, worth £19 a month, granting access to more powerful Gemini AI models and 2TB of cloud storage for photos, files and email. The phone will receive updates until October 2032.
Sustainability
The battery is rated to last in excess of 1,000 full charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity. The phone is repairable by Google, third-party shops or self-repair with manuals and parts due to be available.
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold contains 29% recycled materials by weight including aluminium, cobalt, copper, glass, gold, plastic, rare-earth elements, tin and tungsten. The company breaks down the phone’s environmental impact in its report and will recycle old devices for free.
Camera
The 10 Pro Fold has a very similar camera set up to last year’s 9 Pro Fold and the new Pixel 10, including a 48-megapixel main, 10.5MP ultra wide and a 10.8MP 5x telephoto camera, which out-zooms folding phone rivals, plus two 10MP selfie cameras.
The main camera shoots good photos across a range of conditions, although it can suffer from a little blur and grain at lower light levels. Google’s night mode is still the best in the business when it gets really dark. The ultra-wide camera is solid, while the 5x optical zoom telephoto camera can meaningfully close the distance to objects. The latter can be a bit soft on detail in less than ideal light. Just like the regular Pixel 10 the camera shoots good photos and video most will be pleased with, but it can’t match the Pixel 10 Pro line, which for this price you might expect.
The Fold has a few tricks of its own, including various shooting modes using both screens or propped up at angles when partly folded, plus the ability to shoot selfies with the main camera. The handy Made You Look feature shows an animation on the outside screen that reacts when your child looks its way and smiles, keeping their attention long enough for you to shoot a photo, although unfortunately it uses one of the selfie cameras, not the primary camera, so it’s more for fun than a great photo.
Price
The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold costs from £1,749 (€1,899/$1,799/A$2,699).
For comparison, the Pixel 10 costs £799, Pixel 10 Pro costs £999, the Pixel 10 Pro XL costs £1,199, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 costs £1,799 and the Honor Magic V5 costs £1,699.99.
Verdict
The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is a minor update to the already good 9 Pro Fold from last year, but one that could have a bigger impact down the line. As the first properly dust-resistant foldable it sets a new durability benchmark, slowly bringing the devices up to par with standard slab phones.
The inside screen is still necessarily softer than a regular hardened glass to allow it to fold, however, so you must still be careful with it. A fingernail can leave a permanent mark if you press hard enough.
The added Qi2 magnetic accessory and charging support is just as good in the Fold as it is in other Pixels. The phone is rapid, has reasonable battery life, runs great software and has the best cutting-edge AI around. The cameras are good for a foldable, too, although can’t match the best normal phones.
The Pixel does a great job of balancing being a regular phone when closed and a great tablet when open, but it is fat and heavy compared with the dramatically thinner and lighter Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.
Pros: a phone and tablet in one, dust and water resistant, Qi2 magnetic accessory and charging, great tablet screen, good performance, good cameras with 5x zoom, packed with AI including Magic Cue, Google AI Pro included for a year, seven years of software updates.
Cons: extremely expensive, more fragile and costlier to repair than a regular device, thick and heavy, cameras can’t match regular Pixel 10 Pro, battery life could be better, fewer power-user features than rivals.
