Pixel Fold vs. Galaxy Z Fold 4: Comparing Google and Samsung Foldable Phones

Can Google give Samsung a run for its money in the foldable arena? Here's a first look at how the specs stack up.

Sareena Dayaram Senior Editor

Sareena is a senior editor for CNET covering the mobile beat including device reviews. She is a seasoned multimedia journalist with more than a decade's worth of experience producing stories for television and digital publications across Asia's financial capitals including Singapore, Hong Kong, and Mumbai. Prior to CNET, Sareena worked at CNN as a news writer and Reuters as a producer.

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Sareena Dayaram

May 17, 2023 6:46 a.m. PT

2 min read

Google has launched the Pixel Fold.
Google Pixel

It's official. After months of rumors, Google launched its first foldable phone at its developer conference last Wednesday in the latest sign the tech giant appears to be taking its hardware business seriously.

The Pixel Fold, which features a book-style design, starts at $1,799 -- the same price as its biggest rival the Galaxy Z Fold 4 phone. It'll also go up against competing products from Chinese phone makers like Huawei's Mate X3 and Oppo's Find N2 in international markets. Despite the increase in offerings, foldable phones still comprise a small segment of the overall smartphone category (an estimated 1.2% according to IDC). It's dominated by Samsung, which captured 62% of the market in the first half of 2022 with Z Fold phones, according to Counterpoint Research.

Display and design

Similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 4, the Pixel Fold morphs from a phone when closed into a tablet when opened. The inner display takes the form of a 7.6-inch OLED panel, while the cover display is a high-res 5.8-inch display. Compared to the Z Fold 4, the Pixel Fold appears to be a more pocket-friendly device since it's shorter (by just over half an inch) and shouldn't stick out as much. That said, the Pixel Fold is also heavier (by roughly 20 grams) and nearly half an inch wider. With the wider display, Google's aiming to offer a comparable experience to a regular phone, albeit a shorter one, when using the cover display. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 has a narrower external display in comparison, which can make it a little awkward to use when on phone mode, although it has widened since 2021's Galaxy Z Fold 3.

Watch this: Pixel Fold Hands-On: A First Look at Google's First Foldable

05:10

Camera

Like the Z Fold 4, the Pixel Fold features a grand total of five cameras. Three on the rear, taking the form of a 48-megapixel main camera, a 10.8-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 10.8-megapixel telephoto camera capable of 5x optical zoom and up to 20x digital zoom; one on the front, which is a 9.5-megapixel camera; and finally an 8-megapixel camera on the inner screen. For more details on how it stacks up against the Galaxy Z Fold 4 on paper, scroll down to our specs chart below. It's worth noting that this isn't the most advanced camera system on a Google flagship phone (that honor goes to the thicker Pixel 7 Pro), since Google was forced to make some compromises to accommodate the lean folding design.

Battery

Google says its Pixel Fold, which runs on a 4,821-mAh battery, can last beyond 24 hours based on a median Pixel user battery usage profile. More specifically, Google says its internal tests showed battery life was approximately 33 hours using default settings. Of course, this is just what's on paper, and I'd recommend reading our Pixel Fold review to find out for sure whether that turns out to be the case. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 has a 4,400-mAh battery, and CNET's review puts its battery life at about a full day.