Look, I’m not going to sit here and pretend the whole world didn’t know this was happening next week, but is a little theatrical too much to ask? Google learned a few years ago that the best way to fuel a product hype cycle is to “leak” the thing itself, and here we are, face down a tweet that leaves little to the imagination. The short video shows the company’s forthcoming Pixel Fold slowly unfolding from every conceivable angle.
Google is using Star Wars Day as an excuse to kick off the old hype train, but the truth is it’s preparing the pump with less than a week before it returns to Shoreline for some in-person I/O. There were a LOT of leaks and rumors already, so the company just went ahead and took matters into its own hands. There’s also an official Pixel Fold page where you can sign up for news and the like. There’s still some information that hasn’t been made official, including pricing and release date.
Image Credits: Google
As seen above, all previous leaks seem to have been more or less on the money. As the name implies, the form factor is more Samsung Galaxy Z Fold than Samsung Galaxy Z Flip – that is, more book than clamshell. The dimensions, on the other hand, seem a bit closer to Oppo’s recent foldable or even Microsoft’s bygone Surface Duo.
Of course, Google has been laying the groundwork for its entry into space for a few years now. The company has worked closely with Samsung to create a version of Android that scales well to a foldable form factor. As evidenced by this year’s Mobile World Congress, the era of the foldable by-product seems to be over. The list of major device manufacturers that do not a foldable is getting shorter by the month – and even they are probably working on their own version right now.
The design language is in line with the rest of the Pixel line of devices, including the familiar camera bar, which houses multiple rear-facing lenses. There’s no visible internal camera, meaning the company either puts one under the screen (unlikely), or uses quite a large bezel space to hide it.
Image Credits: Google
The front-facing screen also looks bigger, although it’s hard to tell how close it gets to the bezel, as the video shows a dark dial – perhaps by design. There appears to be a visible crease on the inner screen, showing off Android’s familiar Material UI design language. We see the power and volume buttons on the metal bezel and speaker grilles at the top. We don’t get a good view of the bottom, but it’s pretty safe to say we’re working with USB-C here. Overall, the device looks quite thin, which is especially important for a foldable device.
Google India also recently confirmed the May 11 release date of Budget 7A. And we expect a lot more information about the Pixel tablet, which was officially announced at last year’s event. So will there be any surprises at I/O? Maybe. Though that seems less likely for the Pixel line by the day. We’ll know for sure when the event kicks off on May 10 at 10am PDT.
