Google’s Pixel Fold is real! First-ever live footage surfaces
Enlarge / OnLeaks' Pixel Fold render from December. The cluster of holes on the rear camera bar is interesting, as is the interior camera, which lives in a thick display bezel. (credit: OnLeaks x HowToiSolve)
The Pixel Fold is a real phone! Google has been talking about building a foldable since 2019, and specific models have been rumored since 2021. Numerous delays and cancellations have been enough to make anyone wary about the long-rumored device, but now a growing chorus of rumors claims we'll see an announcement at Google I/O in May.
Over the weekend, though, for the first time, real-life images of the Pixel Fold hit the Internet. Android researcher Kuba Wojciechowski posted a quick video to Twitter of the Pixel fold opening and closing. It's not much, but it's the first confirmation we've seen that this is a real piece of hardware that exists outside of a computer screen.
— Kuba Wojciechowski :3 (@Za_Raczke) April 22, 2023
As usual, the previous renders from OnLeaks seem pretty accurate; we can see the front of the device, the slightest hint of the camera bar on the back, and the inside of the screen. Just like on the renders, the inside of the phone has bezels that are noticeably bigger than the normal design you'd get from Samsung or Oppo. The inner screen doesn't have a hole in the display for the camera and instead opts for the old-school layout of shrinking the screen to make room for a camera above the screen and then extending that dead space across the top of the phone. Did Google shrink the entire screen across that giant foldable just to tuck a camera into the top-right corner? It's a strange step backward when hole-punch displays are the default.