Google unveiled its latest foldable smartphone, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which is described as a ‘fully redesigned and upgraded’ from its first generation Pixel Fold. The company has placed significant emphasis on creating a thinner and more compact design, making the new model a leap forward rather than just a minor iteration of its predecessor.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is noticeably slimmer than the first-generation model, with a folded thickness reduced by 1.5 mm, making it just 2 mm thicker than the regular Pixel 9 Series. When fully unfolded, the device measures only 5.1 mm in depth, making it 0.7 mm thinner than its predecessor and currently the thinnest foldable smartphone available in the US market.
Google’s redesign was driven by user feedback, with many users opting to use the device in its folded state more often than as a tablet. According to Claude Zellweger, Google’s Director of Industrial Design, the team adopted a ‘phone-first’ design philosophy to create a device that functions seamlessly as a standard smartphone but offers the versatility of a foldable. “Our goal was to make a foldable that felt, looked, and acted like any other smartphone while offering additional functionality,” Zellweger explained.
Jon Prowse, Pixel product manager, echoed this sentiment, saying, “You have to make a great phone, and then you can make a great foldable.” The Pixel 9 Pro Fold features a 20:9 aspect ratio, similar to the Pixel 9 Pro, and includes premium finishes with smaller bezels to enhance the user experience.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold sports a new 8-inch tablet-like display housed within the slim design. Achieving this thin form factor required the development of a new hinge system made from multi-alloy steel and high-strength aluminum, allowing the phone to snap shut and open flat with ease. The hinge includes a fluid-friction mechanism and optimized magnets for a smoother opening and closing experience. This ensures the phone remains durable while providing a satisfying tactile feel.
Google also tackled the challenge of fitting high-performance cameras into the Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s slimmer design. The camera bar has been redesigned to incorporate customized optical modules, allowing for an upgraded ultrawide camera and two improved selfie cameras. The double-stacked camera bar is now positioned in the top left corner, contributing to the phone’s slimmer profile and enabling it to lie flat on surfaces.
In addition to the major updates, Google introduced smaller tweaks to further optimize the design. The haptics driver is thinner but provides a stronger tactile response, while the USB-C port has been reduced in size. The speakers have been revamped, and the thermal system has been re-engineered with a new vapor chamber and graphite thermal spreader to effectively manage heat in the slimmer device.
Jon summed it up, “With this process, it really goes to show that when you make a big architecture improvement, every piece of the phone – every single module – matters. It takes a lot of incremental changes to result in this big change.”
