Any lingering doubt about the Pixel Fold that appears this month should be quashed. A new report claims that Google’s first foldable device has surfaced with US regulators, paving the way for the Pixel Fold’s debut at Google I/O 2023 next week on May 10.
The Fold appears to be in line with a possible appearance at Google’s annual developer conference, which was a showcase for announcements of the new hardware. The latest Pixel Fold rumors claim that Google will show off its foldable phone at the inaugural Google I/O on May 10, before launching that device later in June.
The latest evidence that the Pixel Fold is headed for release sometime in the next month or so comes from 9to5Google (Opens in a new tab). The site claims that the Pixel Fold has passed the certification process with the Federal Communications Commission, a regulatory step that usually happens before a phone debuts.
This is a big moment for some of us who have been following the Pixel Fold saga for a while and can remember a time when all the evidence indicated that Google scrapped plans to release a foldable phone.
The news of the Pixel Fold landing in the FCC comes right after some leaks over the weekend that were posted by Evan Blass, another trusted source for information on upcoming phone releases. Blass mainly shared the official look of the upcoming phone but also He tweeted some rumored specifications of the Pixel Fold (Opens in a new tab). The details pretty much reflect what we’ve heard so far.
Pixel Fold: Get ready for a different fold
According to Blass’ tweets, the 5.5 x 3.1 x 0.5-inch Pixel Fold features a 5.8-inch external display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The aspect ratio of the outer screen appears to be wider and therefore more comfortable to use than the Galaxy Z Fold 4’s narrow 6.2-inch Cover Screen.
Unfold the phone, and you get a 7.6-inch display that also has a 120Hz refresh rate. (The external display has a higher peak brightness, it seems.) Once opened, the Pixel Fold is now 6.2 inches wide but only 0.2 inches thick. To put that size in context, the Pixel Fold’s rumored specs make it appear slightly thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold 4 when opened.
Blass says the outdoor cameras include three lenses — a 48MP main camera, a 10.8MP telephoto lens, and a 10.8MP telephoto lens capable of 5x optical zoom. The Z Fold 4 only has 3x optical zoom. The 9.5MP front camera can take photos when the phone is closed, and there is an 8MP selfie camera inside the phone, presumably to enable video conferencing on the Pixel Fold’s extended screen.
As for other specs, Blass expects the Pixel Fold to feature the same Tensor G2 chipset that powers the Pixel 7 family and is rumored to be coming to the Pixel 7a which Google could also show off at I/O this month. Expect a 4,821mAh battery, 12GB of memory, and a choice between 256GB and 512GB of storage.
Anticipation is particularly high for the Pixel Fold, not only because it’s been rumored for a while but also because the best foldable phones are currently being dominated by Samsung. The upcoming Pixel Fold will likely face off against the Galaxy Z Fold 5, and is expected to be released later this year. And based on the latest news, we’re getting close to that happening.
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