Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold
pros and cons
- Display gets plenty bright for outdoor use.
- Slimmer build than ever, yet still durable and functional.
- Creative AI features.
- Middling battery life.
- Camera hardware is a step below conventional phones.
- Tensor G6 falls behind in raw GPU performance.
more buying choices
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Also: Pixel 11 Pro Fold vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: I’m a fan of both foldables, but this one wins
The Pixel 11 Pro Fold isn’t a bad phone per se; it’s arguably the safest foldable phone you can buy today, with an IP68-rated enclosure that shields the device from everyday splashes, dust intrusions, and debris. It also helps that the outer screen is made with a new glass-ceramic material that the company tells me is more than twice as scratch-resistant as its predecessors.
There are a few other upgrades under the hood, but considering Google has bumped up the Pixel 11 Pro Fold’s price by $100, bringing the foldable to $1,899 for the 256GB configuration, you’ll really have to love what else is new to justify spending that much money this time around. Here’s the breakdown.
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A very familiar design
Bringing support to the Messages app would be very welcome. Expanding to Messenger, WhatsApp, and even KakaoTalk would be even better.
As for the Gemini integration, I’d much rather see my conversation clearly shown on screen when it’s listening and transcribing my queries, rather than assume it is based on a few light pulses. There’s nothing more frustrating than needing to ask a question again because it wasn’t properly received the first time, right?
The actual bright spot
It took only the first few hours of testing the Pixel 11 Pro Fold to appreciate the brighter AMOLED display, which peaks at 3,600 nits this year. As I was on my balcony transferring data and settings from my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 (3,000-nit display) to the Pixel, the difference in legibility was noticeable.
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I remember struggling to make out various pop-ups and text when I tested the original Pixel Fold back in 2023, so the progress in display technology is admirable.
Seeing both foldables side by side also exposed the evergreen shortcoming of the Pixel’s more squarish inner display: thick letterboxing when watching 16:9 videos.
You can technically have multiple apps open at the same time on Android 17 thanks to the new floating bubbles feature, but it’s not as intuitive to multitask as Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold models.
If anything, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold only started to bog down about 10 minutes into a 3DS emulator session, with noticeable frame drops and the back cover getting progressively warmer. The big question mark is how well the Tensor G6 chipset will hold up over the years, as Google’s track record with its in-house processors hasn’t been the most promising.
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As far as battery life goes, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold just barely gets me through the day, with roughly 10-15% battery by the time I’m preparing dinner. Perhaps it’s the phone still needing to learn my usage patterns before it can effectively run things in the background, or the fact that Google downsized the battery capacity this year to 4,806mAh (from 5,015mAh), but I wouldn’t trust the device to handle a road trip without having a portable charger beside it.
It’s all about the AI camera features
That’s something users may appreciate years down the road, when they’re preparing to switch to a new phone and realize their shape-shifting handset is still fully functional. (This is also still the only foldable phone this year that natively supports Qi2, magnet-based charging.)
But I’m not exactly sure how many customers in the $2,000+ market are prioritizing longevity. Instead, power users, mobile enthusiasts, and all the risk-takers in between may be more drawn to devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Honor Magic V6, ones that have more surface-level appeal; ones that bring more instant gratification for all the money you just spent.