The Pixel 10 Professional Fold received’t look very totally different in the event you place it subsequent to final yr’s Pixel 9 Professional Fold. Moreover Google’s AI chops, there may be not a lot of an overhaul at first look. Nevertheless, that is the primary foldable to obtain an IP68 ranking, and that counts for one thing.
Ever since corporations began launching foldables, sturdiness has been the prime concern for customers. The longevity of hinges, safety of the interior display screen, and resistance of those gadgets in opposition to liquid and sand are at all times large concerns when shopping for a foldable as in comparison with a slab cellphone.
Google’s Pixel 10 Professional Fold is the corporate’s try at assuaging these worries. The machine intently resembles its predecessor, however there are a couple of key modifications that make the cellphone sturdier.
First is a brand new gearless hinge, which provides a little bit of resistance to folding and unfolding the cellphone. Due to the brand new hinge, there may be little or no hole when the cellphone is folded. This ensures that fewer mud particles and different particles can get inside and probably harm the display screen. Whereas I didn’t get the cellphone in any sand, I saved it in my bag and my pocket a number of instances to see if lint from both place had any impact. Nevertheless, the cellphone continued functioning as typical.
I didn’t submerge the cellphone in water, both. Nonetheless, having IP68 safety implies that the cellphone ought to face up to mud and water higher than its predecessor.
Other than the durability improve, the Pixel 10 Professional Fold gained a brand new Tensor G5 processor. Whereas it’s fantastic for many day-to-day duties, as my expertise suggests, there may be some dialogue about the way it doesn’t carry out in addition to some different processors in benchmark assessments.
Different {hardware} modifications within the 10 Professional Fold contain an even bigger battery than final yr, which is a welcome change. Plus, the cellphone has a brighter display screen, so it’s simpler to make use of exterior within the daylight. One notable factor in regards to the show is that the bezel across the display screen is far thicker than what I’ve seen on different latest telephones, together with each foldables and slab telephones.
Since this can be a Pixel cellphone, Google added quite a lot of AI options to the software program. These additions embody Magic Cue, which surfaces snippets and options primarily based on screenshots and information from apps like Maps, Gmail, Messages, and Preserve. You additionally get name translation, Gemini Stay with video view, and a digital camera coach to information you to take images. (These options are already current on the Pixel 10 Professional, and you’ll learn extra about how they work right here.)
Cameras
For Pixel telephones, the digital camera has been a central story for years now. The Pixel 10 Fold Professional has digital camera specs much like final yr’s machine. This implies there’s a 48-megapixel fundamental sensor, a ten.8-megapixel telephoto sensor with 5x optical zoom, and a ten.5-megapixel ultrawide sensor. It additionally has a pair of 10-megapixel sensors because the selfie digital camera on each the quilt show and the within show.
This setup will not be on par with the Pixel 10 Professional’s 50-megapixel fundamental sensor and a pair of 48-megapixel sensors for ultrawide and telephoto. In the meantime, the Pixel Professional 10 additionally has a 42-megapixel selfie digital camera.
The images from the Fold’s fundamental digital camera present good particulars, however that’s not the case with each the telephoto and ultrawide lenses. In low gentle, solely the primary digital camera holds some water, however the Pixel 10 Professional cameras outshine it.
One gripe I’ve with the Pixel 10 Professional Fold digital camera is that at any time when I needed to take a photograph of a small object, like an AirPods case, the digital camera triggered macro mode, even when it was not tremendous near the article.
The jury is out on how a lot AI must be utilized in images, however in case you are a fan of the Pixel AI Zoom function, which may allow you to use 100x zoom, you can be upset to know that the function is lacking on the Pixel 10 Professional Fold.
The complicated “Pro” moniker
It’s onerous to anticipate a cellphone to not have a reputation that could be a mouthful on this period. Nevertheless, Google’s inclusion of “Pro” within the Pixel 10 Professional Fold is a tad complicated. The corporate launched the Pixel Fold in 2023, after which modified the naming scheme final yr.
Normally, Professional is reserved for the top-tier cellphone of any lineup. Until you rely the show dimension and battery dimension — which consequence within the type issue — the foldable falls brief within the digital camera, cooling, and charging departments.
The digital camera is a step down from the Pixel 10 Professional, as we described earlier. Plus, Google solely included vapor chamber cooling for its Professional slab telephones. And the 25W Qi2 charging is reserved for the Pixel 10 Professional XL. A few of this is likely to be a limitation due to the foldable type. However then, why not drop the Professional title?
Google additionally must encourage builders to undertake third-party apps to suit the foldable expertise, apart from tweaking its personal apps and making the general multitasking efficiency much less glitchy. It could be good to see Google implement one thing like Samsung’s multi-window function on Pixel foldables.
The place does the Pixel foldable stand?
Amid producers like Samsung, Oppo, and Honor racing to construct skinny foldable telephones, Google has produced a proudly chunky and hefty foldable. The corporate has targeting making it extra sturdy and long-lasting with the brand new hinge and the IP ranking.
The cellphone’s digital camera bump will not be as huge as a few of the Chinese language producers have on their gadgets. Which means it holds a bit higher whenever you lay it down on a flat floor. The cameras don’t match as much as the Pixel 10 Professional line, which is a bummer. However in case you are not hung up on digital camera efficiency, Pixel Fold cameras will not be a nasty guess.
The Pixel 10 Professional sells at a listed value of $1,799 — $200 cheaper than Samsung’s Z Fold 7 — however you will get reductions on varied websites. In order for you a totally baked Google or Pixel expertise in a foldable type issue, this machine is for you.
