The last Pixel foldable we reviewed was the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, since that was the big refresh from Google after some of its foldable ideas debuted on that original Pixel Fold. It’s crazy to think that it has been a couple of years, but we thought it might be a good time to revisit and get our hands on the Pixel 11 Pro Fold.
Google was kind enough to send us a device for review purposes and we’ve been using it for a solid couple of weeks at this point. After coming off both the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra in recent months, my brain is still very much in foldable mode, even with the break to take on the Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL.
I will note that this will be a somewhat shorter version of a review for us and that’s mostly because we’ve already spent a lot of time with the Pixel 11 Pro models and this device is almost exactly like those, outside of the fact that it folds in half and has a different camera system. Sure, some software differs because there are two screens, but I think you get what I’m saying.
For this Pixel 11 Pro Fold review, we’re going to dive into those areas that differ. However, if you want to know all about the Pixel 11 Pro experience, I suggest you get into that review too.
Let’s do this!
Pixel 11 Pro Fold Review: Great Hardware, Wrong Shape
The Pixel 11 Pro Fold is the newest foldable from Google that starts at $1,899 for 256GB storage and 16GB RAM. You can add more storage to it by paying for either 512GB or 1TB. Prices for those models jump to $2,019 and $2,249. Last year’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold started at $1,799, so we are looking at a $100 price increase for 2026.
As for what’s new in the 11 Pro Fold, Google says the device weighs 10% less, is 1mm thinner, and has thinner bezels around the inner display. Google once again brought back the IP68 water and dust resistance rating, is using a new gearless hinge, and included a new glass fiber composite back cover that is “nearly impossible to crack.”
We’ve also got displays that are 20% brighter and 25W Qi2.2 wireless charging speeds. And yep, the magnets for wireless MagSafe-like charging are once again built into the device.
Finally, Google included a new 48MP main camera sensor, plus the telephoto lens can do 30x Super Zoom. And that’s mostly it.
Displays. As a foldable, you get two very nice displays on the Pixel 11 Pro Fold. We’re dealing with a 6.5″ 1080p OLED cover display and an 8″ OLED folding display that’s protected by Ultra Thin Glass. Google didn’t change a lot about them, but they do get quite a bit brighter with peak brightness reaching 3600 nits on both displays. Google has also apparently changed the glass on the cover screen to an “ultra-durable glass ceramic cover glass,” instead of the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 they had on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold.
In use, both hold excellent viewing angles and have great color balance and consistency from one screen to the next. You could be looking at a bright and colorful image on the cover display, open to the inner display, and nothing really changes about what you are seeing. These displays are tuned so similarly, which is a bigger deal than you might think. Imagine how jarring it would be if the inner display was a downgrade in terms of color or saturation or in blacks. Thankfully, you don’t get that downgrade here.
Google hasn’t talked much about the crease on the inner display, but it seems to be reduced here or at least at a level that isn’t obnoxious. There’s still a crease, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just not as noticeable as the creases from previous years.
Touch responsiveness almost feels a touch better on the inside display too, which I didn’t expect. These softer, inside folding displays tend to have some downsides to them, but there really isn’t anything to complain about with this display. If anything, I’d call the cover display pretty basic and unremarkable, while the inside display is a showstopper.
Google does give you all of the proper settings for these displays too. You have adaptive and enhanced HDR brightness, levels to the dark theme, a customizable always-on display, and a setting to let you continue using apps as you move from the inside display to the outer.
Finally, brightness levels on both displays have low and high extremes, so you can take some strain off your eyes in dark situations yet still see clearly in the daylight.
Battery life. In the battery life department, Google claims that the Pixel 11 Pro Fold has 24+ hour battery life. That doesn’t really mean much, since battery life all comes down to your usage. What I can tell you is that they put in a smaller battery this year (4806mAh vs. 5015mAh) and that my results have been pretty mixed, if not slightly disappointing.
On my very first charge, I hit 5.5 hours of screen-on time and went to bed at 11PM with 19% battery remaining. That’s actually pretty good! From there, things really only got worse, unfortunately. My next charge hit 5 hours of screen-on time, but I was down to 8% at just 9:30PM. The next time I took a battery life screenshot, I had only hit around 3 hours of screen-on time and showed 29% battery remaining at 11:30PM.
My usage is still very much the same, even on a foldable. I use a lot of Chrome, Instagram, Threads, Android Auto, and Pokemon GO or TCG Pocket. While I certainly dance between the small and big screens, this is a foldable I weirdly found myself using the cover display more often rather than the bigger display. That wasn’t the case for the Fold 8 models, but either way, battery life certainly has me a bit worried.
On a positive note, the Qi2.2 magnets in here are so cool. Attaching a giant foldable that weighs this much and watching it firmly hold itself to a MagSafe charger will never get old. And Google gave us faster 25W charging this year too.
Software. The Pixel 11 Pro Fold runs Android 17 out of the box and will get 7 years of both OS and security updates. Like all Pixel phones, this phone will be supported for more years than most people will own it. Those years of updates also include Pixel Drops that could introduce fun new features and improve the overall experience.
That said, the software side of this device isn’t exceptional as a foldable, by any means. What I mean there is that while this runs the excellent Pixel phone experience, there aren’t a lot of special foldable features that might pull you in and keep you here.
You can split-screen two apps at a time, save those as a pair for re-launching, and adjust window sizes when they are both open. The Quick Settings and notifications areas are split when in unfolded mode, so you can manage both at the same time. There’s a taskbar too, which allows you to quickly launch second apps or change apps without having to go home. You can’t have different wallpapers on the cover and inner display, though, so that’s a bit of a bummer. Samsung also allows you to open 3 apps at a time, while this phone can only handle 2.
After testing this phone for a couple of weeks, I feel like I just found myself using it as a mini tablet less and less, especially when compared to the two Fold 8 phones from Samsung. It wasn’t encouraging me to open the device, and I think that comes from the software not being as inviting or tempting when in the big-screen form. I can’t quite put my finger on what the deal is, but I mostly used it as a phone and rarely found myself on the bigger display.
Camera. For the camera, Google has once again given us a triple-lens setup that is headlined by a new 48MP sensor. The other two cameras are a 10.5MP ultra-wide lens next to a 10.8MP telephoto lens. This is not even close to the same camera setup that you get on the Pixel 11 Pro or 11 Pro XL, so while this phone is labeled as a “Pro” phone, that clearly does not include this camera system. Foldables have often cut costs through cameras and that hasn’t changed here.
The main camera can hold its own in good light, for landscape photography, and for indoor shots. It is without a doubt a step below the Pixel 11 Pro’s camera, though. It just can’t capture the level of depth, it’s tuned to boost vibrancy in colors, and it lacks the sharpness or clarity you get from Google’s other Pro phones.
The ultra-wide is a step below the main in terms of quality. It struggles with capturing the true colors of a scene and is often a bit greener or washed out. Photos taken with it come off a bit lifeless, or maybe that’s just more natural.
The telephoto camera is the weakest of the three. It’s pretty bad with dynamic range and its digital zoom is a big step below the regular Pro models. It still does 5x optical, but it can’t be used in portrait mode and that was felt in my camera sessions.
When taking several comparison shots between the 11 Pro Fold and the regular 11 Pro, I was just incapable of producing the same shots. Most of those were close-up pictures of objects, where I wanted background blur – it couldn’t do it. Every time the photos were flattened, without the depth I wanted. While it could handle low-light OK, it just felt like another situation where there wasn’t as much flexibility.
In the end, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold camera system is capable enough in most situations. My biggest beef with it is that it once again is another $2,000 foldable that doesn’t have a true Pro camera. I know Google isn’t alone in doing this, but it still sucks. For example, the camera system in the regular Galaxy Z Fold 8 might be the worst camera I’ve used in 10 years of reviewing phones. I’d imagine the iPhone Duo camera won’t be top tier either, when compared to the iPhone 18 Pro cameras. No one gets a pass on providing a lesser camera experience on these expensive phones, and that includes Google.
Hardware. When it comes to hardware, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold is very much like the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and 10 Pro Fold before it. Google has made it slightly lighter and they changed up the camera housing to include the new HiLight feature, but you could easily mistake this phone for a previous-gen model.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as the hardware is pretty good. This phone has durable metal outer frames, its frame opens at various angles to let you view content, when fully open it beautifully clacks, and then it slaps back together with a satisfying clap. The buttons are clicky, it feels refined, and it’s a looker, assuming you like the Pixel style.
I let several people hold the Pixel 11 Pro Fold and all of them were impressed, noting how premium it felt, even as I complained that it’s probably too heavy for me. None of them agreed and instead thought it felt great in the hand.
I do have some complaints about this hardware, though. It really is a bulky, heavy device. After coming from Samsung’s new foldables, this one feels a bit dated. It’s just so thick, tanky, and sort of unpleasant to carry around for long periods of time. Samsung has just found ways to make their foldables so light, yet premium, that they don’t even feel like foldables anymore. This Pixel 11 Pro Fold most definitely still feels like a generation behind in that category.
That’s made more evident by the fact that Samsung’s new Fold 8 brings a new, wider and shorter shape that Apple has also adopted with its iPhone Duo. After spending a lot of time on the Fold 8, I think I’m fully convinced that this is the best shape for a foldable. It makes for a smaller in-hand device when using it like a phone, but it opens to a wide-screen device that is better for viewing content, yet can be flipped into portrait for a bigger phone experience. It basically presents a 3-in-1 style that this shape of the Pixel 11 Pro Fold can’t.
The Pixel 11 Pro Fold is good when closed and as a standard phone shape, but the inner display isn’t really good at anything. It’s an odd square shape that doesn’t let you view video properly and apps are constantly displayed in weird formats or with black boxes on their sides.
On some other notes, when unfolded, the top and bottom pieces are not the same thickness, so they don’t perfectly align. That means you can feel the height difference between them when your fingers brush against the rear from one side to the next. I didn’t think I would care this much about it, but I notice it every time I unfold the device and it’s not my favorite thing.
I mentioned earlier that Google is using a composite back material instead of the standard glass, and I haven’t noticed that as being anything but normal. It feels good and as premium as glass in the hand, looks sharp in this Olive color, and has mostly resisted fingerprints. Also, just having the peace of mind that you can set it down on almost anything and it shouldn’t break is a big deal, especially with a phone this expensive.
Overall, the hardware and design of the Pixel 11 Pro Fold are still quite fine and I have no major complaints, but it’s certainly starting to look and feel dated with new and potentially improved shapes arriving from competitors. We’d love to see a refresh from Google next year.
Should you buy a Pixel 11 Pro Fold?
The Pixel 11 Pro Fold is a good foldable that finds itself in a world with two incredible foldables from Samsung and the first from Apple that looks to have done a lot right. So if you are in the foldable market, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold is certainly one you should consider buying, but I would highly recommend you get one in hand, at least next to Samsung’s newest before deciding.
The displays are good, the hinge system is satisfying to use, the software gets it mostly right, and the hardware feels premium. Where I find it lacking is in the weight it carries, this style of foldable that I think is on the way out, and the camera being a step above mid-range.
Read the original post: Pixel 11 Pro Fold Review: Good Foldable That’s Feeling Dated
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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