Before Google even got a chance to unveil its Pixel Fold smartphone in its entirety, all people could talk about was the bezels. The company shared a teaser of its foldable phone about a week before it was fully revealed at Google I/O 2023, and even that short video confirmed that the Pixel Fold would feature fairly large bezels at the top and bottom of its main screen. It looked a lot different from the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, which is currently the only big-screen foldable smartphone for sale in the U.S. But regardless of how the Pixel Fold looks — whether the bezels make you feel disturbed or indifferent — the smartphone is going to be a lot better than it looks.
Foldables are only as good as their software
The proposition for a foldable smartphone is simple: you get a regular smartphone when you just need to complete an average task, and you get to unfold the device to reveal a larger screen when you need it. But as we've seen with other devices in the past, a bigger screen is only as useful as the software that runs on it. Early iPads and Android tablets were just blown-up versions of their respective mobile operating systems, and it showed. The iPad, which is considered the best tablet on the market by a long shot, only became a true laptop competitor when Apple fully optimized its big screen and processing power with iPadOS. Foldables can similarly struggle if software and compatible apps don't maximize the larger display and form factor, as Samsung's current offering has shown.
Google can look to the Galaxy Z Fold 4 as an example of both what to do and what not to do with regard to foldable operating systems. Samsung has developed a great multitasking system that allows you to use more than five different applications simultaneously on the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Considering current Pixel smartphones can't even open more than two apps at a time, Google should definitely take note of Samsung's user interface here. But Samsung has also fallen short in a few ways, namely app optimization. Not all apps are designed to run well on the Galaxy Z Fold 4's main screen, and you'll run into issues like apps having black bars on the side, being over or undersized, and simply being blown-up versions of regular Android apps.
Considering current Pixel smartphones can't even open more than two apps at a time, Google should definitely take note of Samsung's user interface here.
While Google might face these very same issues, the company is also uniquely positioned to provide a fix. As the developer of Android, it has industry pull to convince app developers to optimize their applications for foldable devices. Plus, some of the most important apps for Android users are made by Google, like Chrome, Drive, Messages, and YouTube. Google can guarantee that these popular apps are optimized to run perfectly on the Pixel Fold since it is also the creator of those applications. Considering how much smoother Chrome runs on my Pixel devices compared to my Galaxy Z Fold 4, this could be a huge performance benefit that only Google can offer.
Google has been making big-screen versions of Android for years
Samsung might be four generations of foldable smartphones, but that's not to say Google hasn't been doing anything in the foldable space until now. Dating back to when Samsung first announced plans to create foldable phones, Google has been working on versions of Android optimized for tablets and larger-screened devices. That in-house development led to the release of Android 12L, a special version of Android that was specifically created for tablets and foldable devices. It was released in March 2022, and it brought things like operating system-level optimization, new ways to multitasking, and universal compatibility methods — even for apps that weren't designed for big-screen devices.
There was no Android 13L, and that's because Google incorporated all the features from Android 12L in the regular version of Android 13. Now, each version of Android has features specifically curated for tablets and foldable devices. Considering Google has been developing the Pixel Fold and the forthcoming Pixel Tablet for more than a year, it has been internally developing ways to make Android run better on bigger screens.
Samsung and other manufacturers have tried to create their own solutions to the big-screen problem through their own Android versions, but Google has proved that its solutions perform better than Android skins in the past. With that in mind, there's every reason to believe that Google can create an optimized version of Android for its foldable, and perhaps one that outpaces other competitors.
Software might not be enough to save the Pixel Fold
Even good software might not be enough to make the Pixel Fold one of the best foldable phones in 2023, though. If you followed Samsung's entry into the foldable category a few years ago, you'll remember the issues it had creating early versions of the Galaxy Z Fold — from review units breaking in the hands of journalists to the near-inevitable cracking along the phone's crease.
The Pixel Fold probably won't have that same level of issues because the technology has come a long way in the last five years. But it will have issues as a first-generation product, and those hardware issues might overshadow any potential software gains. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 has had multiple generations to work out its kinks, and that is a serious advantage over the new Pixel Fold.
Plus, there are other concerns beyond durability. The Pixel Fold has the largest battery ever in a foldable, but that battery is still smaller than the one found in the Pixel 7 Pro. That flagship has average battery life thanks to the hot and power-hungry Tensor G2 chip, which also powers the Pixel Fold. Google's foldable also has a large inner display that runs at 120Hz, so there's definitely a reason to be wary of battery life. Plus, the Tensor G2 chip is nearly a year old, so it's fair to wonder whether performance will hold up against the competition.
The Pixel Fold will be good enough to create competition
The Pixel lineup has always exceeded performance expectations, getting the most out of hardware that can look underpowered on paper. There's reason to believe that Google can do the same thing with the Pixel Fold, developing software good enough to compensate for first-gen hardware. Even if the Pixel Fold has bezels that make it look a half-decade older than the Galaxy Z Fold 4, it can still win over power users by providing fine-tuned software.
Regardless of whether the Pixel Fold has the perfect foldable operating system or not, it'll be good enough to create competition with Samsung, which is great news for everyone. Google's Pixel Fold has a cover screen with a wide form factor that looks to be worlds better than the one on the Galaxy Z Fold 4, for example. Samsung has been uncontested in the foldable space until now, and Google's entry into the category will force Samsung to push the limits of its foldable phones. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 performs worse than it looks, but my bet is that the Pixel Fold will perform a lot better than it looks.