With Google’s latest Tensor G2 processor, a triple camera setup, and a large battery, the Pixel Fold looks like a promising foldable, but has it got enough to compete with the Galaxy Z Fold 4? Although Samsung has been at it for a few years, Google seems to have done a commendable job putting together the sleek yet capable Pixel Fold. It’s the company’s first attempt to capture the growing market of foldables, and will go head-to-head with Samsung’s.
Since both phones are pricey and seem to offer similar experiences, buyers will want to gather as much information as possible before putting their money into one. They’ll need to know about their durability, screen sizes, performance, and more. To answer these questions, and many more, here’s a detailed comparison of the Google Pixel Fold and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.
Related: Pixel Fold, Pixel 7a, Pixel Tablet & Google AI: All You Need To Know From I/O
8 Colors
To kick off the list, let’s discuss the colors these phones are available in. The all-new Pixel Fold comes in two elegant colors, including Porcelain, which has an off-white rear panel with a shiny silver frame, and Obsidian, with a dark-gray finish. Both colors are great to look at and provide a premium feel to the Pixel Fold. On the other hand, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 offers more options, including Beige, Phantom Black, Graygreen, and the online-only Burgundy.
7 Durability
The Pixel Fold has an aluminum frame, a stainless steel hinge, and Gorilla Glass Victus on the cover display and the rear panel. Similarly, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 has an aluminum frame and hinge cover. However, it comes with Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the cover display and the rear panel, which is slightly more durable. Nonetheless, both phones are well-off with a protective case, as the main screen is delicate. Lastly, an IPX8 water-resistance rating is standard on both models.
6 Displays
The Pixel Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 4 come with two displays each but with different aspect ratios and sizes. For instance, Google’s foldable features a 5.8-inch FHD+ OLED screen with up to 120Hz refresh rate. It is built on a 17.4:9 aspect ratio, roughly the same as regular phones. In comparison, the Fold 4 has a 6.2-inch HD+ AMOLED screen with up to 120Hz refresh rate. It has an aspect ratio of 23.1:9, which makes it slightly taller.
Both phones open to a 7.6-inch flexible display made of ultra-thin glass and support up to 120Hz of refresh rate. However, the Galaxy has significantly thinner bezels than the Pixel Fold. Regarding peak brightness, both phones can achieve 1,000 nits.
5 Performance And Storage
When it comes to performance, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 takes the lead with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4nm), which is faster and more efficient than the Pixel Fold’s Tensor G2 (5nm) SoC. While the former scores about 1300/4200 points, the latter scores about 1050/3100 points on Geekbench. Nonetheless, users should expect flagship-grade smoothness from both phones, which are great for multitasking and playing games.
Both phones come with 12GB of RAM, but Samsung offers up to 1TB of internal storage on the Fold 4, whereas Google only provides 512GB with the Pixel Fold.
4 Operating System And Stylus
Google’s first foldable runs on Android 13 with Material You. Like other Pixel phones, the Fold will also be the first to receive new Android updates and quarterly feature drops. The company says it has optimized 50 apps to work well with the phone’s large screen and has collaborated with several third-party app developers to improve the user experience. Google promises to provide three years of Android and five years of security updates on the device.
The Fold 4 runs on One UI 5.1 based on Android 13, but the user interface differs significantly from the stock experience users get on Pixel phones. The phone comes with Samsung’s suite of apps, which might bug a few buyers, but the productivity tools are helpful. Another stark difference between the phones is that the Galaxy supports input via S-Pen, which unlocks quite a few features such as note-taking and remote shutter, among others. The Pixel Fold doesn’t support a stylus.
3 Cameras
The Pixel Fold’s primary 48MP (f/1.7, 1/2-inch) sensor is slightly smaller than the Fold 4’s 50MP (f/1.8, 1/1.56-inch) primary sensor, implying an inferior low light performance. On the other hand, Google’s foldable provides up to five times optical zoom with the 10.8MP (f/3.05) telephoto sensor, which is more than the three times optical zoom through the Fold 4’s 10MP (f/2.4, OIS) sensor. Those who like to click landscape shots might prefer the Fold 4’s 12MP (f/2.2) ultrawide over the Pixel’s 10.8MP (f/2.2) sensor, as it provides a wider field of view.
While the Pixel Fold has a 9.5MP (f/2.2) selfie shooter and an 8MP (f/2.0) internal camera, the Fold 4 has a 10MP (f/2.2) selfie shooter and a 4MP (f/1.8) under-display camera on the inner side. Ultimately, both phones have a similar camera setup, and it comes down to what type of color profile users prefer. Using software, both phones provide the hybrid zoom feature, which goes up to 20x on the Google foldable and up to 30x on the Galaxy phone.
Both phones can record 4K videos at 60 frames per second and have a portrait video mode that applies bokeh to the background. However, the Pixel provides more AI-based photo editing features, such as Magic Eraser and Photo Unblur.
2 Battery Life And Charging Speed
On the one hand, the Pixel Fold has a 4,821 mAh battery, which is seemingly larger than the Fold 4’s 4,400 mAh battery. Conversely, the Fold 4 has a more efficient Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4nm) chipset. As a result, Google’s tablet-sized smartphone should provide a similar battery life as the Fold 4, which roughly lasts a day on moderate usage. Both phones support fast wired and wireless charging, but Samsung’s device offers wireless reverse charging.
1 Connectivity And Other Features
Both phones support sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G connectivity. Additionally, they have Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth v5.2, NFC, and a USB-C port. They’re also equipped with an ultra-wideband chip for spatial awareness. Other standard features include a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, stereo speakers, and dual-Sim functionality. Last but not least, the Pixel Fold and the Galaxy Z Fold 4 are both available for $1,799 for the 256GB storage variants.
