Oh hey, Google just announced the Pixel Fold

Image credits: Google

Look, I’m not going to sit here and pretend the whole world didn’t know this was going to happen next week, but is a little too much theatrical? Google learned a few years ago that the best way to squeeze a product’s hype cycle was to “leak” the thing yourself, and here we go. Tweet This leaves very little to the imagination. The short video clip shows the company’s upcoming Pixel Fold slowly unfolding from every conceivable angle.

Google uses Star Wars Day as an excuse to kick off the old hype train, but the truth is, they’re getting the pump ready with less than a week before they head back to Shoreline for their I/O in person. There were already a lot of leaks and rumors around, so the company just went ahead and took matters into its own hands. There is also an official Pixel Fold page Where you can subscribe to news and the like. There is still some information that has not been made official, including pricing and a release date.

Image credits: Google

As we saw above, it seems that all of the previous leaks have been more or less on the money. As the name suggests, the form factor is more Samsung Galaxy Z Fold than Samsung Galaxy Z Flip – more book than clamshell. On the other hand, the dimensions look a little closer to the modern foldable Oppo, or even the old Microsoft Surface Duo.

Google, of course, has been laying the groundwork for its entry into the space for a few years now. The company is working closely with Samsung to create a version of Android that fits nicely into the foldable form factor. As evidenced by this year’s Mobile World Congress, the era of the foldable as a fringe device seems to be over. List of major hardware manufacturers no It has a folding version that’s getting shorter by the month — and even they’re probably working on their own version as we speak.

The design language is consistent with the rest of the Pixel devices, including the familiar camera bar, which houses multiple rear lenses. There’s no visible internal camera, which means the company is either making one under the screen (unlikely), or it’s using a fairly oversized area to hide it.

Image credits: Google

The front screen also looks larger, though it’s hard to say how close it is to edge-to-edge, since the video shows a darkened watch face — perhaps by design. There appears to be a visible crease on the inner display, which showcases Android’s familiar Material UI design language. We can see the power and volume buttons on the metal edge and the speaker grilles on top. We don’t get a good view of the bottom, but it’s safe to say we’re working with USB-C here. In general, the device feels very thin – which is especially important for a foldable.

Google India also recently confirmed the release date of Budget 7A as May 11. We expect more information about the Pixel Tablet, which was officially announced at last year’s event. So, will there be surprises at I/O? maybe. Although this seems less likely for the everyday Pixel line. We’ll know for sure when the event kicks off on May 10th at 10am PDT.