There's a questionable new design language, but don't expect much change in the camera department
(Image credit: Google)
Not only has Google just teased its next flagship camera phone, the Pixel 9 Pro, it's also revealed its second-generation foldable phone, called the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Apart from the external design shown in the short teaser video, official specs are yet to be confirmed. The video does however show (surprise, surprise) that AI will likely be heavily integrated into the new foldable phone, courtesy of Google's generative AI chatbot Gemini (formally called Bard, and Google's answer to OpenAI's ChatGPT).
The teaser reveals a similarly prominent - and in my opinion, ugly - camera island/bump to the Pixel 9 Pro, though the Fold's implementation is squarer and houses two separate lens windows. The exact specs of the camera modules hiding behind are still to be confirmed, but rumors suggest the camera array won't be as impressive as the Pixel 9 Pro's triple 50MP rear-facing set-up and will be largely unchanged from what's in the original Pixel Fold.
Past leaked images like this appear to have been accurate - the Pixel 9 Pro's camera island really does protrude this much (Image credit: Google)
According to GSM Arena, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold will also feature a triple camera array, but headed by a relatively small 1/2.0" 48MP sensor for its primary, wide-angle camera, paired with a 25mm-equivalent lens with OIS. The ultrawide camera could use a 1/3.2" 12MP sensor, while the telephoto camera is said to be a 10.8MP 1/3.1" module providing 5x optical zoom.
As for the signature folding OLED screen; rumors suggest this will be slightly bigger than the original Pixel Fold's screen, measuring 8.02 inches. It could also feature a higher native resolution of 2200 x 2480 pixels, equating to a pixel density of 413ppi - up from the Pixel Fold's 378ppi. A 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support are also said to feature.
Whether or not these specs turn out to be correct will be revealed on August 13, when Google is expected to formally launch the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
Ben is the Imaging Labs manager, responsible for all the testing on Digital Camera World and across the entire photography portfolio at Future. Whether he's in the lab testing the sharpness of new lenses, the resolution of the latest image sensors, the zoom range of monster bridge cameras or even the latest camera phones, Ben is our go-to guy for technical insight. He's also the team's man-at-arms when it comes to camera bags, filters, memory cards, and all manner of camera accessories – his lab is a bit like the Batcave of photography! With years of experience trialling and testing kit, he's a human encyclopedia of benchmarks when it comes to recommending the best buys.
