Chips & Hardware
Google's Pixel 11 Pro Fold gets a stronger build, brighter screens
Google's new Pixel 11 Pro Fold keeps last year's design but adds a stronger hinge, brighter displays, and a 30x zoom, while costing more and packing a smaller battery.
Samsung’s short-and-wide foldable may be the talk of the town, but Google isn’t experimenting with its own design: the new Pixel 11 Pro Fold, unveiled this week, looks largely unchanged on the outside. Google said the new foldable is stronger and lighter than the previous-gen phone — but it’s also costlier.
Google developed a new, stronger hinge for this year’s Pixel 11 Pro Fold and added a Super Actua display to the outer screen, with 3,600 nits of peak brightness. Both the inner and outer displays are 20% brighter than the predecessor, according to the company.
There’s a bit of a battery downgrade, however: the new phone offers a 4,750 mAh battery instead of the 5,015 mAh capacity in last year’s model. On the plus side, that’s likely part of why the phone is 1mm thinner and roughly 20 grams lighter. The foldable also picks up 25W wireless charging, a small upgrade on the charging front.
The Pixel 11 Pro Fold gets an updated 48-megapixel sensor that pulls in more light for more detailed photos in different lighting conditions. Thanks to the new G6 Tensor chip and an updated image processor, the phone can digitally zoom up to 30x, up from 20x previously.
The device will be available in Olive and Obsidian colors and will cost $1,899.
Why it matters
The Pro Fold’s spec bump shows Google chasing thinner, brighter foldables even as it trades battery capacity for size — a tradeoff that will test whether durability messaging alone can justify the higher price.