Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold review: Buy or skip?

Talk about a tough act to follow. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold launches after the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, which is so thin and light that it raised the bar for portability in foldable phones. But I’ve been testing Google’s new foldable, and it actually beats Samsung’s in several ways.

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold gives you a beefier battery, an IP68 rating for dust- and water-resistance (a first for foldables) and brighter displays. And all that comes for $200 less than the Z Fold 7, making Google’s updated device a viable contender for best foldable phone.

Pixel 10 Pro Fold REVIEW vs. Galaxy Z Fold 7: Buy or Skip? - YouTube

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But the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s AI features don’t always work as promised, and it feels seriously chunky next to Samsung’s device. Let’s look beyond the hype and break down the reasons to buy (and skip) in my full Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold review.

Reasons to buy Pixel 10 Pro Fold

Price

Right out of the gate the Pixel 10 Pro Fold scores a win with a lower price. You’ll pay $1,799/£1,749/AU$2,699 for 256GB of storage and 16GB of RAM, compared to $1,999 grand for the Galaxy Z Fold 7 with the same amount of storage and 12GB of RAM.

When you’re paying this much for a phone, a $200 gap might not seem like much, but you can upgrade to 512GB for the Pixel and still pay $80 less than the 256GB Galaxy Z Fold 7.

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold release date is October 9.

A more durable design

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is indeed chunkier than the Galaxy Z Fold 7, but there’s a definite advantage to its design. Its new gearless hinge allows the phone to be both water- and dust-resistant with its IP68 rating. That’s a first for any foldable.

In contrast, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is rated IP48, which means small particles of dust can get in there, and you definitely shouldn’t take it to the beach.

While we’re talking design, I like the light green Jade color on our review unit, but I prefer the more professional looking slate blue Moonstone option. Samsung’s Blue Shadow wins for wow factor, though.

Brighter displays

When you have access to an 8-inch display on the go for surfing the web, streaming Netflix and running two apps side by side, you want things to be as vibrant as possible. And the Pixel 10 Pro Fold outshines the Galaxy Z Fold 7 with a brighter OLED screen.

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold display exceeded 2,500 nits in our testing, compared to 2,000 nits for Samsung. And the front 6.4-inch screen is brighter, too. I noticed the difference when watching the trailer for the new “Mandalorian & Grogu” movie outside; I could make out the action a bit easier on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s 8-inch panel.

The Z Fold 7 technically has a larger 6.5-inch cover display, but I actually prefer the Pixel 10 Pro Fold because it’s wider and easier to type on.

Longer battery life, Qi2 charging

Another side benefit of the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s extra heft is its bigger battery. You get a 5,015 mAh battery, compared to 4,400 mAh for the Z Fold 7.

In the Tom’s Guide web surfing battery test over 5G, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold lasted a very good 12 hours and 16 minutes. The Samsung endured for just 10 hours and 44 minutes.

And when it’s time to juice back up only the Pixel 10 Pro Fold has the necessary magnets required for Qi2 charging with Google’s PixelSnap stand. The Z Fold 7 needs a separate case to add this capability.

If you charge with a wire you’ll find that the Pixel 10 Pro Fold can get up to 58% in 30 minutes with Google’s 67W charger (sold separately). That’s slightly better than the 54% from Samsung’s foldable.

Better cameras?!

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold 48MP main camera may have less resolution than the 200MP one on board the Galaxy Z Fold 7, but I preferred Google’s camera phone in a number of shots.

That includes a crisper and brighter portrait in this side-by-side comparison, though I prefer the bokeh effect through the Samsung.

And in low light, the Pixel did a better job capturing these Halloween decorations. You can make out the skull and lettering on the books more easily.

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold also excelled in this photo of a pink hydrangea at night. The coloring is more accurate.

But the Pixel 10 Pro Fold really pulls ahead in zoom performance thanks to its 5x optical zoom lens. The Z Fold 7 is limited to a 3x optical zoom. Check out these shots of a sculpted figure on the side of a building. At 10x you can make out much more detail with Google’s image.

Yes, the Z Fold 7 has a longer 30x digital zoom, but the results are generally not impressive at that setting.

I will say though that the Galaxy captured more detailed macro shots as you can see in this flower comparison.

Pixel 10 Pro Fold: Sample video - YouTube

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To test out the video quality of the Pixel 10 Pro Fold I shot the Bryant Park fountain at 4K and 30 fps. And I prefer the footage from the Z Fold 7. As I zoom in it takes a second for the Pixel to focus. And as I pan around the Pixel struggles a bit keeping the scene evenly lit.

Galaxy Z Fold 7: Sample video - YouTube

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Powerful AI (when it works)

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold has so many AI features I think it’s overkill, but there’s some that really stand out. I personally like Auto Best Take for automatically creating the best group photo from multiple shots.

Magic Cue is pretty ingenious on paper. It can surface information that you need in the moment without having to jump between multiple apps. So if I call the airline with a question about my flight, the details will show up from my calendar.

Too bad this feature didn’t work at times when I tried it. I sent a text message to myself from another phone asking about photos from Byrant Park. The Google Photos icon showed up but nothing happened when I tapped it.

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold was smart enough to pull my flight time from my calendar when I inquired about that, although it presented the info in military time. When I tried calling United Airlines, Magic Cue gave me the option to pull up info from my flight. But it showed the wrong info taken from a separate email. And it turns out that my corporate account isn’t fully supported. Google is starting with personal Gmail accounts.

Reasons to skip Pixel 10 Pro Fold

Thicker and heavier

If you ask me which foldable phone I’d want to carry around each day it would be the Galaxy Z Fold 7 hands down.

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold measures 5.2mm thick when open and 10.8mm when closed, compared to 4.2mm and 8.9mm for the Z Fold 7. One paper, that’s a pretty big difference, and it’s even more evident when you see the phones side by side.

The Pixel also weighs a hefty 9.1 ounces, compared to just 7.6 ounces for the Z Fold 7. For me, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is a back pocket phone and the Samsung is slim enough for the front.

You also really notice the difference when you’re holding these foldables for a long time, such as when playing games.

Slower performance

Speaking of games, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s Tensor G5 chip is not the best foldable for sheer performance. When playing “Destiny: Rising” I saw gorgeous graphics but I noticed some dropped frames when lots of enemies were on screen at once.

This is backed up by our lab testing, where we saw the Pixel 10 Pro Fold trail the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip by 1,500 points in one 3DMark graphics test. And it couldn’t even run other graphics tests that the Z Fold 7 can.

And when it came to our video transcoding test, the Pixel 10 Pro needed over 2 minutes to finish compared to 52 seconds for the Z Fold 7.

Better multitasking

It’s hardly a dealbreaker but the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is limited to running two apps side by side. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 can run three apps at once, so that gives you a bit more flexibility.

At least it’s easy to create app pairs on the Pixel so that you can drag-and-drop content between windows.

The Pixel and Samsung share a lot of AI features

It’s also worth noting that while the Pixel 10 Pro Fold has some exclusive AI goodies, some of the best AI features are found on both Google and Samsung phones. This includes instant access to Gemini Live for analyzing what’s around you or what’s on your screen.

And I love the ability to use Ask Photos to make quick edits on photos just by typing or using your voice. See how quickly the Pixel 10 Pro Fold gets rid of these reflections.

Bottom Line

Overall, I like the Pixel 10 Pro Fold more than I thought. And in a perfect world I’d be able to get a foldable phone with all of its unique strengths — including its dust proof design, brighter displays and bigger battery — in something just as thin and light as the Galaxy Z Fold 7.

But since we don’t live in that world, you have to make a choice. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is a pretty compelling device for $200 less than the Samsung. But despite Google’s advantages I’d rather carry the Z Fold 7 as my everyday phone because it actually feels like a regular phone and not a foldable.