Pixel 9 Pro Fold Review: Sleek Design, But Does It Deliver?

This is the Pixel 9 Pro Fold - It’s Google’s 2nd generation foldable that looks like a normal smartphone when closed, but unfolds into a small-ish tablet. It’s got this premium notebook-style design with a blend of curved and squared-off edges and while it might not be as symmetrical as the Galaxy Z Fold6, it's still very good looking and well built. Here are my thoughts after spending 2 weeks with the phone!

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0:00 Design
0:42 Cover Display
1:32 Biometrics
2:05 Speakers
2:21 Main Display
2:38 The Hinge
2:53 The Crease
3:12 Main Display Quirks
4:24 PixelUI
5:09 Multitasking
6:31 AI
7:16 Performance
7:50 Battery Life + Charging
8:58 Photos + Video
10:04 Final Thoughts

DISCLOSURE ‣ Pixel 9 Pro Fold provided by Google Canada for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own and not influenced by the developing company, and/ or its affiliates, in any way. Some links provided above are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. As a Howl Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Honesty is key on my channel, thank you for supporting me!

#GooglePixel #android #Pixel9ProFold

[FlaminGlow]

The quality of your reviews is amazing. Honest and precise. One of the, if not the best reviewers out there!

[srock]

One of the very few reviews who covers details that actually matter day to day and not just a "deep dive basic". Good review!

[timothyleegriffith]

This is the most honest review on YouTube. A+ all the way around! Great job!

[UESPA_Sputnik]

Thanks for comparing the Fold with the regular Pixel 9 at the beginning. Every other reviewer just puts different foldables next to each other, but personally I'm not deciding between foldables but whether to get a foldable at all.

[kyhassen]

I got mine two days ago and I'm enjoying it. I've also used Z Fold 3, Z Fold 4, and went to iPhone 15 Pro Max for a bit. Yea software is better on Samsung foldables in terms of multitasking. But this phone is super enjoyable and I have Zero regrets.

[shomari]

Now this is the review I've been waiting for ❤❤❤

[VerbalGenius]

Absolutely gorgeous ❤ love your honest reviews ❤

[Marlon_J]

As an S24 Ultra user who loves the features of One UI, if I should ever consider switching away from Samsung, I would much rather going to stock Android than iOS. As restricted as stock Android may feel compared to One UI, it is still Android, so I can always add features that are lacking by either installing a third party launcher and/or installing third party apps with features I like. Unlike iOS, you can still customize most aspects of stock Android without even rooting.

[gupiter]

This was a very well researched review. Let's hope Google is watching so they can make some of those improvements, especially to video playback. I didn't even realize about the bright white lower half while watching in tabletop mode. The phone can be used with the Pixel Stand 2 if you place something 1/2 inch tall underneath it to raise it up a little bit and it works perfectly.

[zachrhonheimer]

Thao as always you always manage to cut through the hype and give a great review. I have had my Pixel 9 Pro Fold for two days now and I love the concept of it but like you mention it comes with downsides. For me the weight and general wonkiness of some apps when the phone is open in tablet mode are giving me pause. I love how Google handled the outer display this year for easier one handed use but weighing in at 9.1oz cancels out a lot of that. I wish Google could have cut the weight down a bit more as both the Z Fold6 and OnePlus Open weigh quite a bit less, not even to factor in the Honor Magic V3.

For me the biggest issue is that so many apps just don't work as well as they should on the inner display, including Google's own apps like Gmail. I know that Android 15 is supposed to fix some of these issues but it's shocking that Google rushed this particular model onto the market when it has so much to gain from Android 15, unlike the standard Pixel 9's. It puts a lot of us in a bind since Android 15 won't be out until October but our return windows are in September. Hopefully they open up the Android 15 beta program for us soon so we can make a better decision to see if that fixes enough to help us justify the $1800 price tag.

[RichardDuncanPhoto]

Great review! I have had the phone for a few days now and thought I’d chip in my 5 cents! I’ve been with the pixel family since the 5, and decided to finally jump into the foldable realm. I must say that I have 2 big takeaways. 1) Foldables are completely different from a regular phone - I know that sounds obvious, but you really need to think of this as a new class of device and not just a phone with a bigger inside screen. There have been countless times where I forget I have an inside screen, or forget I have an outside screen - and some tasks are much easier to do on one or the other - which I’m still figuring out. An example of this is moving between tasks that are better for one screen than the other - e.g watching a YouTube video then texting a friend. It’s obvious that the better screen to watch a YouTube video is the bigger inside screen, but then when you go to text a friend, I think from muscle memory I’m just way more efficient at doing this on the smaller screen, so I will start doing it on the bigger inside screen, find I’m less efficient, close the phone and continue on the outside screen, yes I could try multi tasking etc etc, but in real world usage I’m not fully tuned into the device. I think each person will also have a preference to what they prefer. 2) Tech reviewers don’t fully know how to review these devices just yet as generally they focus on the specs, the design etc, but they never really focus on the usage for the device, e.g. you have both a table and a phone - when do you use each configuration, how does it serve you in tablet mode, how does it service you in slab phone mode etc what would you use each for…

[lorenzohudlun]

The Pixel 9 Pro XL seems like the gold standard this generation.

[marcustimmerman]

Great review again Thao, starting to love the foldable form factor.

[griffielliott]

Great review. Your daughter had so much energy in this video. I love her ❤

[AstrotardJones]

Watched this thinking it was just gonna be another review. Turned out to be legitimately the best P9F review I’ve seen. You highlight things that would concern me in daily use and don’t miss basic spec and feature facts like tech reviewers with 100s of thousands of $ in production value seem to miss (I think we all who I’m talking about). Subbed 🙏🏻

[skatin_around]

I'd absolutely watch if you made some longer videos that weren't a direct review. Your quality is great. I watch most of your videos because they're good and interesting, not so much because I'm interested in the device.
I love the videos.

[katzcassim]

Thank you for sharing this excellent video, Thao. 🤗❤️😍

[openpilgrim]

Just discovered your channel while searching for reviews on this device. Thanks for the great review and you have a new subscriber.

[ChrisGrosvenor]

Great work on this one. Looks like mom life is treating you well. I decided to make the plunge to the fold. Decided to lease just to handle that price. I would still recommend the 9 pro XL over this to most people.

Take care 🇨🇦

[Cameri]

Is that Poweramp? Awesome! Did you switch to using it full time for your music needs, Thao?