Google Pixel Fold Design, Specs Leaked Ahead of Expected May 2023 Launch

[d686546s]

Yeah ever since multiple lenses came out, I always wondered why the iPhone camera bump stays in one corner which causes the phone to wobble. Why not stretch it across the width of the phone like this Pixel (and I think some Samsungs), which allows it to lie stable?

Yeah. I recently dropped my phone and dinged the frame despite a case, so I figured why not use it caseless for a while until I get it replaced under AC+.

It's just a horrible experience. I also have an SE for work and that's actually a nice feeling without a case. I put the case back on my personal phone because the wobbling is just insufferable.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I still think 3.5” and 4” are perfect smartphone screen sizes. 😀

That's good. Be sure to speak up in all of the threads where some of us are slinging how we want a multi-TRILLION dollar-sized Apple to return to a single phone, single iPad, etc in some kind of one-size-fits-all sentimentality.

Variety of choices are good. Ideas like this are good too. Some of us can't appreciate it yet because Apple hasn't rolled out their cut of it. But as soon as they do, some of those people will suddenly find "use cases" and perhaps even spin "best iPhone ever."

 

[Cole82]

Why sell you a single device that serves as both a laptop and a tablet, when they can sell you two separate devices, each with different accessories, and make more money?

Product strategy isn't solely about what's technically feasible (it's unfortunate for our wallets too).

I said this very same thing a few weeks ago and got all the “i PrEfEr SePrAtE dEvIcEs FoR mY uSeCaSe” comments. Glad to see someone else sees it too. I imagine the sheeple attacked your comment as well.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

Apple will never release a foldable iPhone. They know it is a dead end. You cannot tell me that folding a screen and putting constant stress on the joint isn’t going to cause problems eventually.

 

[MacAddict1978]

Until someone figures out the crease issue, foldable phone/tablets/laptops are not going to be mainstream. That crease is an eyesore.

In photos the crease looks bad, but if you read feedback of actual device owners and reviewers they all say you stop noticing it much as you do a big ass notch on an iPhone or the small hole punch on Android phones, or that with most content its not visible at all.

Honestly, I don't get foldables. The tech is impressive (still not perfect), but manufacturers use it in such ways that devices are incredibly clunky and hard to use - be it this one, of the Surface Duo, or Samsung's foldables.

Pretending that it's a phone that unfolds into a tablet doesn't fix the issue for me.

In line with the comment that follow this, I'm sure when Apple's folded lands in the next 1-2 years you'll be like, "FOLDABLES MAN! They're awesome! Wow, it's like having an iPad Mini!"

Phablet size phones were 6-8” and they failed badly. I had a friend at work with a Dell phablet and he looked like a dork holding it up.

The iPhone Max are not phablet size.

Uh, the iPhone Max is now larger than what "phablet devices" were when the term was coined.... and all the iPhone people on here at the time with their microscopic 4" displays cried, "Big screens are stupid and Apple is so great and I'd never want one that size anyway cause it's dumb, yeah"

And then.... forward to today when they're all holding phones larger than phablets (THAT WERE SIX INCHES) back then.

 

[MacAddict1978]

I said this very same thing a few weeks ago and got all the “i PrEfEr SePrAtE dEvIcEs FoR mY uSeCaSe” comments. Glad to see someone else sees it too. I imagine the sheeple attacked your comment as well.

Like all the Sheeple in this thread that will walk on hot coals barefoot the day Apple releases their foldable in a year and a half?

And pay the price of an iPad and iPhone combined for it and $50 for the dongle of the day.

 

[magicman32]

I’ve tried a couple of generations of the Galaxy Fold and I really dug the design. I just can’t get over Samsung software. I really love the software experience of my Pixel 6 Pro. One of the reasons it’s hard to deal with the Samsung equivalent.

This could be amazing. A foldable with Google’s unmatched software smarts.

The same caveats still apply , though. The Tensor (Samsung) chipset is a little wonky battery-wise and I don’t think Samsung’s 3nm redesign is going to be ready by the time this phone drops. If they can manage respectable battery life somehow, I don’t know how I don’t lust after this phone. I do wish they had undercut the competition with price like they did with the Pixel 6 and 7 series.

 

[itsboi]

I can't wait until this trend of foldable phones goes away. It really shows how OEMs have plateaued and rather than focusing on the bottleneck that is software, they continue to churn out gimmicks that become even more fragmented + a hassle to optimize for. To me, it doesn't really make sense to use as a phone with how bulky it is. Doesn't seem compelling to me as a tablet, nor a phone. Jack of all trades, master at none.

 

[itsboi]

Can't wait for foldable smartphones to join the club of 3D TVs and bubble tea aka. the weird flops.

Bubble Tea has existed since the 80s.

 

[eifelbube]

„Phone when closed, tablet mini when opened. For those of us able to look beyond one brand, it seems like having both a phone and tablet in one would be a great device.“

Exactly. I would welcome such a solution. Often, I need more screen real estate when I communicate by text or read on my iPhone on the go.

 

[Abazigal]

Or maybe, folding phones just aren't the future of computing that so many people here desperately want it to be.

My theory continues to be that in an era where Apple is clearly winning, people are latching on to product categories that Apple isn't involved in and trying to make them sound like the next big thing and that Apple, by extension, is lagging behind because it doesn't have a leg in that race. And then it turns out at these aforementioned markets are riddled with bad bets, indifference and / or a lack of vision, and Apple seems prescient in hindsight for not going down those paths in the first place.

It was the case with smart speakers, the vast under-estimation of the wearables market (because it's one that Apple actually has traction in), Microsoft's line of surface products (which haven't exactly caught the consumer market by storm), and I am willing to bet that it will be the case with folding smartphones as well (given Samsung's penchant for aimlessly launches new products and features for no other reason than to say they are first).

 

[spinedoc77]

Or maybe, folding phones just aren't the future of computing that so many people here desperately want it to be.

My theory continues to be that in an era where Apple is clearly winning, people are latching on to product categories that Apple isn't involved in and trying to make them sound like the next big thing and that Apple, by extension, is lagging behind because it doesn't have a leg in that race. And then it turns out at these aforementioned markets are riddled with bad bets, indifference and / or a lack of vision, and Apple seems prescient in hindsight for not going down those paths in the first place.

It was the case with smart speakers, the vast under-estimation of the wearables market (because it's one that Apple actually has traction in), Microsoft's line of surface products (which haven't exactly caught the consumer market by storm), and I am willing to bet that it will be the case with folding smartphones as well (given Samsung's penchant for aimlessly launches new products and features for no other reason than to say they are first).

Folding phones are not the future, they are just a stop gap on the road to whatever phones will morph into. Maybe AR contact lenses, maybe a better form of a folding screen, maybe a holo screen, who knows. What is clear is the advantage a larger screen that folds into a smaller package brings today, although that's saddled with a very high cost that most consumers don't want to pay. I think that's the big mistake the naysayers make, that anyone is really thinking folding phones are the end all and the best phones will ever be, no one really thinks that.

 

[spinedoc77]

Apple will never release a foldable iPhone. They know it is a dead end. You cannot tell me that folding a screen and putting constant stress on the joint isn’t going to cause problems eventually.

Folding a screen and putting constant stress on the joint isn't going to cause problems eventually, unless by eventually you mean around 200k folds which amounts to about 50+ folds/day for 10 years. If you are going to keep your phone for over 10 years, then yeah don't get a folding phone.

 

[Makosuke]

This at least doesn't seem to make the phone actively worse in some modes to add a larger screen when open (other than it being on the chunky side and with gaps on the sides when in "regular phone" mode). I'm not sure the tradeoffs would be enough for me to buy one even if it ran iOS and there was lots of software optimized for it, but at least this looks like it adds more than it subtracts.

That said, I'm still curious how the case situation will play out if these become more than just a niche product; literally everyone I know--regardless of platform--has either a chunky case on their phone, a cracked screen, or both. I don't see how it would be possible to have any kind of case on this past maybe some kind of glued-on bumper, so it seems like the breakage rate would skyrocket.

(Also: If it doesn't snap open with a click at least roughly as satisfying as any '90s era flip or slider phone, I'm not sold at all. The foldable phones I've tried feel like you're forcing something stuck to get it open, not that ultra-satisfying tactile snap of popping an old flip or slider open with your thumb.)

 

[DeepIn2U]

beautiful, at least google phones are not wobbling

Yuck! 🤢 🤮

This looks as terrible as Microsoft’s Duo.

Pricing may be the only thing that helps this sell but if Oppo brings the N2 Fold and Flip this pixel Fold will be an after thought before it even gets officially launched let alone shipped.

 

[iZac]

I actually really like the book form-factor of the Surface Duo so it will be great to see this looks very interesting.

haha, just as I post this I saw the post from @DeepIn2U above mine, sorry mate!

 

[Kierkegaarden]

Folding a screen and putting constant stress on the joint isn't going to cause problems eventually, unless by eventually you mean around 200k folds which amounts to about 50+ folds/day for 10 years. If you are going to keep your phone for over 10 years, then yeah don't get a folding phone.

How on earth do you know this? Have you been testing a foldable screen for 10 years and folding the screen 50+ times per day, and in different climates? If so, share the data. If not, I prefer not to speculate on the longevity of an unproven and unnecessary screen technology.

 

[svish]

Good too see foldable devices from more manufacturers.

 

[ds2000]

Looks good, wouldn't buy it

 

[Danfango]

Folding a screen and putting constant stress on the joint isn't going to cause problems eventually, unless by eventually you mean around 200k folds which amounts to about 50+ folds/day for 10 years. If you are going to keep your phone for over 10 years, then yeah don't get a folding phone.

That's not how it works. They don't just die some point after 200k folds. It's a statistical normal distribution curve. There are early failures, a bulk of mid-life failures and then some exceptionally long ones. And it's plainly a lie that 200k is on the left side based on the fact that I've seen three broken ones this week on public transport already and it's Friday morning here.

The whole concept is actually entirely stupid from an engineering perspective. All these displays are complex laminates. When I say complex, the screens have literally billions of deposited parts on many layers and complex signal distribution paths. They also generate localised heat as a side effect of emitting light. To add mechanical stress to that, regardless of bend radius constraints etc, is simply statistically going to be considerably less reliable than gluing it to something solid.

If you bend things, eventually they break.

If you look at Apple, they are attempting to remove even mechanical buttons because they know that the durability of devices under normal use is ultimately constrained by mechanical part lifetime. Remember your unreliable 80s tape players with scratchy pots and switches that died - that has nearly been eliminated due to this product engineering discipline. That's some engineering I can actually get behind.

Edit: also from a usability perspective I've observed people using them and they aren't very practical. They are too large to hold with one hand reliably when unfolded, too small to put on your lap and they partially fold up if you press them too hard. It's just bananas.

They're shiny landfill that is all. And that's sad.

 

[UKgaryb]

I'll only be interested when the folded size is the same thickness as the current iphone 14, and there's NO crease in the screen when unfolded.

redacted

 

[Alex Cai]

Will you use the inner or outer display when you use it? It is a stupid dilemma that the phone will be too bulky when using the outer display and too big when using the inner display
Either choices will waste the other display and 2 displays can’t be used at the same time.

 

[The Game 161]

The design seems spot on with a wider outside display where Z fold display does need to be wider but for me my Z fold 4 it's basically my tablet which I can put in my pocket thats my usage and software wise Samsung are the only foldable which has nailed software

Features and multitasking on Z fold 4 is far superior than you can get on any ipad

 

[jmgregory1]

It's interesting that I keep hearing about how fragile today's folding phones are, but have yet to see anyone offer any sort of proof that this is truly an issue. I get that more moving parts are more prone to failure, that's just common sense, but with official reports of 200k + folds (Samsung's estimate for the ZF3, haven't found estimates for the ZF4 but they did say it was improved, other folding phone makers have said closer to 400k) estimated I think we are in good shape there. Its not like we are seeing an epidemic of broken folding phones, it's virtually a non issue. At the same time folding phones may offer better protection than slab phones in some sense, when the screen is folded closed it's much more protected than a slab phone for example. Edit: Here is the ZF4 fold estimate.

Personally I highly doubt reliability is the issue going against mass consumer adoption, it's more the pricing, although I could see the *perception* of reliability as an issue, especially when word of mouth gets it wrong as in this case. Get these down to $1k and you'll start to see much higher rates of adoption. You have a great setup with a small smartphone and an iPad Pro, no argument there, except for me that setup falls apart when I try to stuff the iPad Pro into my pocket. That's just my personal use case scenario though, we all have combinations which work for us. But personally I don't want to return to the days of putting my tablet between my back and pants, or having to wear cargo pants to maybe be able to carry an iPad mini.

What I noted about the fragility, is the folding screen itself. As I’ve stated previously, any mechanical hinge is going to have a failure at some point, especially compared to a non-folding device, but with high tolerance machining and polishing, the hardware portion of the hinge can very likely last a long time. The problem is really going to be the screen itself. You may not have had issues, but my point is that if folding screen phones hit the mainstream as far as volume goes, with hundreds of millions of units, the failure rate due to both material issues and foreign object damage will very likely be massive. Of course we won’t find out because as you note, the cost differential forces these devices to be niche products, used by people who can afford to get it fixed or replaced if broken and/or are treating them more carefully to keep them from getting damaged.

I get your use case is unique for needing to carry something small that expands, but I would venture to guess that the coming AR glasses that let you see full desktop sized screens virtually anywhere you look will quickly eliminate the need to carry anything other than a small device along with a pair of glasses.

 

[vikingjunior]

I’ll never get past the horizontal camera setup.