After unveiling the original Pixel Fold in mid-2023, Google held off on announcing a follow-up foldable phone until today (August 13) when it unveiled the Pixel 9 Pro Fold We will soon find out if this latest model is worth the wait

Google would argue that it is, because announcing a sequel to the Pixel Fold along with the rest of the Pixel 9 lineup means that the new phone can use the same Tensor G4 silicon This means that they will have new AI features that would not have been possible if Google had chosen the older chipset It also explains why the name was changed to reflect the fact that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is now part of the phone maker's Pro Phone lineup

AI is the centerpiece of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, but it is not the only feature Google also made significant design changes to the fold, including an enlarged display and a thinner, lighter design Google clearly hopes these changes will raise the Fold's standing among the best foldable phones

Here is what we know about the Pixel 9 Pro Fold now that Google has officially announced the new version of the foldable phone The Pixel 9 Pro Fold's main display measures 8 inches, which is the largest panel of any phone, foldable or not

The screen on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is not only larger but also brighter than the Pixel Fold Both the external and internal screens support a maximum brightness of 2,700 nits For the main screen, this means an 80% improvement over the Pixel Fold's display

Don't look for major changes to the Pixel Fold's camera setup: the Pixel 9 Pro Fold's ultrawide camera sensor will drop slightly to 105MP resolution (the Pixel Fold uses a 108MP sensor), but the 48MP main camera and 108 telephoto lens will return This telephoto camera supports up to 5x optical zoom and up to 20x digital zoom using Google's Superless Zoom feature On the front, in contrast to the Pixel Fold's 95MP selfie cam, the Pixel 9 Pro uses a 10MP camera, with the inner cam on the internal display jumping from 8MP to 10MP

Google is focusing more on new camera features than hardware improvements For example, the “Made You Look” feature displays an animation on the Fold's external screen when taking a picture of a child with one of the rear cameras

Tensor G4 is found in the Pixel 9 Pro, and while the main focus of this system-on-chip is to support new AI features, we expect that benchmarking will show significant improvements over the Tensor G2 found in the original Pixel Fold However, the G4 is not a Galaxy S4 That said, the G4 will have a hard time matching the performance of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in the Galaxy Z Fold 6 (The Pixel 9 Pro Fold has a feature that is part of the rest of the Pixel 9 lineup, at least in the US Satellite SOS can send location-based text messages to contacts even when there is no cellular or Wi-Fi connection Google plans to offer this connectivity feature for two years, with plans to expand to other countries

The battery size of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is actually smaller than what the Pixel Fold offered, at 4,650 mAh versus 4,821 mAh unless the Tensor G4's power management improves significantly (which is possible), it is likely that Google will offer both foldable Despite publishing the same specs for the battery life of the devices, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is unlikely to outperform the Pixel Fold in our battery tests, suggesting that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is unlikely to outperform the Pixel Fold in our battery tests [The Pixel 9 Pro Fold supports 45W wired charging This is an upgrade from the Pixel Fold's 30W speed