Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6: here comes the rivalry!

Published: Aug 13, 2024, 12:26 PM

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Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6: here comes the rivalry!

Intro

Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 6 is still quite fresh — we aren't even through the honeymoon phase! But oh, oh, a rival has already stepped in the ring — Google just launched the brand-new Pixel 9 Pro Fold!

That's the second generation foldable from Google, and it follows the same steps as its predecessor — a design and size that sets it apart from what Samsung is offering, and all the Google smarts, with exclusive Assistant and Gemini features. All powered by the new Tensor G4, which is made with neural processing in mind.

So, how do these shiny new foldables stack against each other? The good news is that we are not comparing oranges to oranges here — the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 are legitimately "different" devices that give you separate experiences. Time to see, which one is the one for you!

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Pixel 9 Pro Fold vs Galaxy Z Fold 6 differences explained:

Pixel 9 Pro Fold	Galaxy Z Fold 6
Thin body, wider 20:9 cover screen	Slightly thicker, cover screen is narrower at 22:9
Bigger main screen, 8-inch, 20.8:20 ratio	7.6" main screen, 21.9:18 ratio
Triple camera system	Triple camera system
Google Tensor G4 custom chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy
256 GB / 16 GB base option	256 GB / 12 GB base option
4,650 mAh battery expected	4,400 mAh battery
Fast wired charging Wireless fast charging	25 W charging Wireless fast charging

Table of Contents:

Design and Size
Display differences
Performance
Camera
Battery and Charging
Specs
Summary

Design and Size

Hey, look, we can all be Pac-Man

Google takes a slightly different path to designing its foldables. While Samsung insists on keeping the cover screen narrow, so it's more one-hand, single-thumb-friendly, Google spreads out the Pixel Fold to be wider and thinner. In other words — it feels more like a "regular smartphone" when closed up.

Truth be told, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is slightly narrower and taller than last year's Pixel Fold — the cover screen is now 20:9, which is in line with most flagship phones out there. The iPhones, for example, have 19.5:9 screens. The new Pixel 9 Pro Fold is also even thinner than last year's model.

This is all to say that yes — the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold feels more like a "regular" smartphone when folded — definitely less "blocky" than the Galaxy Z Fold 6. The latter has a tall and narrow 22:9 cover screen, which can feel a bit cramped, especially if you put a case with a protective lip around the bezel — it's definitely meant for quick looks and swipe-typing with one finger instead of really diving in (that's what the main display is for!).

Last year's Pixel Fold showed us that Google knows how to make nice, sturdy hinges. It also came with water-resistance — the bad news is that this hasn't been upgraded. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold comes with IPX8 water-resistance, where the Galaxy Z Fold 6 now has IP48 rating for limited particle protection, together with the water-resistance.

You will notice a new camera module on the back of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold — it's a huge square, not a vizor, and it's moved to the upper-left corner of the phone's back. So, if you hated the horizontal strip of the other Pixel phones, this one is something different!

That's also where the Z Fold 6 has its triple-lens array, which in itself is not exactly small. Safe to say, both of these phones will refuse to lie flat on a table, unless outfitted with a rather thick case.

The new, thinner Pixel 9 Pro Fold, is lighter than before, but still a bit weighty at 257 g. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is kind of on the light side — for a foldable, that is — weighing in at 239 g.

Launch colors for the Pixel 9 Pro Fold are pretty conservative — Obsidian and Porcelain, which is basically black and white. The Galaxy comes in Silver, Navy, Pink, Black, and White.

Display differences

So, we sort of know what we are headed into here — OLED panels, all around, inside and out on both phones. Obviously, Samsung has been cooking its own AMOLED screens for a while now, and it is even accepting orders from other manufacturers — Google included.

OK, then, what are the screen differences?

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 has a 6.3-inch cover screen, 120 Hz, 22:9 (approximate) aspect ratio, and a 7.6-inch main screen, 120 Hz, 22:18 (approximate) aspect ratio. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold responds in kind with a 6.3-inch external display, 120 Hz, with an aspect ratio to the tune of 20:9. Inside, it has a main screen, which is almost square-shaped (20:20.8 ratio) and about 8 inches in diagonal.

On the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, we have a 120 Hz Actua Display outside, peak brightness of 2,700 nits. Its main screen is a 120 Hz Super Actua Display, also 2,700 nit peak brightness. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 offers similar experience with its Dynamic AMOLED x2 panels, both 120 Hz, and both with 2,600 nit peak brightness.

The cover screens of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 6 are protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

Performance and Software

Tensor G4 coming in!

Google is still on the path of making its own silicon for its own phones, and that's cool and commendable. The Tensor has reached its G4 generation this year, but our hopes for performance aren't super-high. Google touted numbers like 17% faster app launching and 20% faster web browsing than before, plus increased battery efficiency when taking photos and binging YouTube.

But no actual details on clock speeds and manufacturing process yet. Par for the course — the Tensor was never meant to destroy benchmarks. It's built to support Google's vision of AI and machine learning, so it invests and leans heavily into NPU processes. The Tensor G4, specifically, has been designed in partnership with Google's Deepmind team.

Don't get us wrong, Tensors are typically powerful enough to run the stock Android, smart enough to give brains to the Google Assistant and now — Gemini, and have enough headroom to last through the years.

But if you are one that's all about raw power — the Galaxy Z Fold 6 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform for Galaxy will very likely smoke the Pixel 9 Pro Fold in terms of performance. However, Google's Android will have a lot of exclusive AI features — from new camera tricks to deeper integration between Gemini and the Assistant. And Google will say that's where the Tensor G4's power lies.

For software — both will run Android 14, but — of course — Samsung has the One UI interface laid thick on top of that Android. With special features to get you into split-screen multitasking, S Pen support, DeX to turn it into a mobile desktop workstation, S Health, Samsung Wallet, and all the other tricks that Samsung has been building for many years.

On the Pixel, we will have what we call "stock Android", but that's not exactly right. Google has also been giving its own phones exclusive special powers — like special Assistant features like Guide My Call, Call Screening, and others. Same goes for Gemini.

Both companies promise 7 years of software updates for these expensive phones, which is good for peace of mind.

The Pixel 9 family of devices is also calling SOS calling via sattelite — and the first 2 years of service are free.

Galaxy AI vs Gemini AI

Since we touched upon it — let's have a quick look at what was announced and what we know about these AI platforms. The new Google AI features include:

Multimodal integration - you will be able to ask Gemini to pull data from multiple of your Google apps and services and accomplish tasks with them. For example "Find my resume from Drive, summarize it in a paragraph", or "On which day next week will I be free to go to the movies?".
Gemini Live - natural conversations with the Assistant. Interrupt and change topics on the fly!
Add Me - when taking group photos, take a picture of the group, then swap in with someone else. Pixel AI will be able to stitch a photo as if you were all in it
Auto Frame - part of the Magic Editor. Will edit and change framing of photos, based on what the AI knows about good photography practices
Reimagine - edit a photo via text prompt. Type out what you'd like to see and have the AI edit the photo for you
Video Boost - will upscale video up to 8K resolution. Now works twice as fast
Weather app - Gemini Nano will now give you a quick summary of weather conditions
Magic List - ask phone to create complex shopping lists automatically. "Plan a taco dinner for 6, one vegetarion option"
Screenshots app - use Gemini Nano to quickly recall old screenshots that you once took to remember something. On-device processing only
Call Notes - comes up after a voice call with a quick summary of your conversation. On-device processing thanks to Tensor G4

These are on top of established features like Circle to Search, Call Screening, Direct My Call, Hold For Me, Voice Message Transcriptions, Best Take, and Photo Unblur.

Galaxy AI on the Z Fold 6 can do this:

Live translate during a phone call
Chat Assist in Samsung Keyboard (translate, proofread, rephrase messages)
Generative photo editing (like Magic Editor)
Circle to Search with Google (also on Pixels)
Note Assist will summarize notes, format messy notes
Summarize voice recordings from Recorder (can be sent directly to Notes)
Summarize websites and articles
Sketch to Image - generate image suggestions when you sketch or draw directly on photos in the Gallery or Note screen.
Portrait Studio - regenerate portraits in styles like comic, 3D character, watercolor, and sketch.
Instant Slow-mo - long-press regular video and it will generate new frames to make it slow-mo
S Health can analyze your daily routines, fitness, and sleep for elaborate welness reports (with a Galaxy wearable)

So, Google has less tricks up its sleeve — or some of them overlap. It's nowhere as elaborate or multimodal as the new Gemini assistant, but Galaxy AI still has a couple of useful tools hidden in there!

Camera

Possibly an area where the Pixel will dominate

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold may have a Pro moniker, but Google wasn't able to cram quite the amount of camera tech that the regular Pixel 9 Pro has in there. That's to say, it has a 48 MP main camera, 12 MP ultra-wide, 10.5 MP 5x telephoto camera with a maximum of 20x Super Res zoom. That's kind of around the same specs we have on the Z Fold 6 — with its 50 MP main, 12 MP ultra-wide, and 10 MP 3x telephoto camera, 30x maximum digital zoom.

That's a bit weird — all other Pixel 9 devices got brand-new cameras, that are supposedly the best cameras Google has ever had. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold, despite bearing the Pro moniker, has last year's specs.

Then again, so does the Galaxy Z Fold 6. Samsung's new image processing did improve the camera performance of the Z Fold 6, though. So the Pixel 9 Pro Fold may surprise us just yet! Jury out until we get to test it extensively.

Battery Life and Charging

Does the Pixel get a downgrade?

The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold now comes with a 4,650 mAh battery — that's smaller than the OG Pixel Fold's 4,821 mAh cell. It's early to comment on endurance — Google does say that the Tensor G4 has better energy-efficiency than before.

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 has a 4,400 mAh cell, and while it's not quite a marathon runner, we definitely trust it to take us through a day.

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold also got a charging speed upgrade — now supporting up to 37 W power on the wire. The Z Fold 6 juices up with 25 W power from an applicable charger, so we fully expect the Pixel to outrun it in our 0%-100% test.

Specs Comparison

Here's a quick overview of what we know so far about the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold vs Galaxy Z Fold 6 specs:

Specs	Pixel 9 Pro Fold	Galaxy Z Fold 6
Dimensions	6.1 x 5.9 x 0.2 in (155.2 x 150.2 x 5.1 mm)	6.04 x 5.22 x 0.22 in (153.5 x 132.6 x 5.6 mm)
Weight	237 g	239 g
Screen	8" main screen Super Actua, 120 Hz 6.3" cover screen Actua, 120 Hz	7.6" main screen Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120 Hz 6.3" cover screen Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120 Hz
Processor	Google Tensor G4	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy
RAM, Storage and Price	16 GB / 256 GB for $1,799	12 GB / 256 GB for $1,899
Cameras	48 MP main 12 MP ultra-wide 10.5 MP telephoto 5x 10 MP front 10 MP front inside	50 MP main 12 MP ultra-wide, f/2.2 10 MP telephoto 3x 10 MP front 4 MP front inside
Battery Size	4,650 mAh	4,400 mAh
Charging Speeds	Wired - "fast" Fast wireless	25 W wired 15 W wireless

Which one should you buy?

Oh boy, isn't that the question? We have to say, the Z Fold 6 still has a lot going for it thanks to that S Pen support and Samsung DeX. However, you should also seriously consider what type of external screen you want on your foldable. Samsung insists it has to be narrow, Google is giving you a nice, wide canvas to dual-thumb type on when you don't feel like opening the phone up.

Then, we also have the new Gemini AI features on the Pixel — anyone who wants to be on the cutting edge of this new tech will probably feel attracted to that. And, admittedly, a lot of these features, especially the call-associated ones, feel very useful. The Galaxy AI features are still hit and miss, but we'll say it here — the webpage summarizer is a blessing!

We are still waiting to put the Pixel 9 Pro Fold through all of our tests and benchmarks. However, we can see now — it will be a tough choice. Both of these phones have something to love about them.

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Preslav, a member of the PhoneArena team since 2014, is a mobile technology enthusiast with a penchant for integrating tech into his hobbies and work. Whether it's writing articles on an iPad Pro, recording band rehearsals with multiple phones, or exploring the potential of mobile gaming through services like GeForce Now and Steam Link, Preslav's approach is hands-on and innovative. His balanced perspective allows him to appreciate both Android and iOS ecosystems, focusing on performance, camera quality, and user experience over brand loyalty.