Google Reportedly Scraps Its First Foldable Phone Even Before It Can Launch
Photo 151782504 © Eric Broder Van Dyke | Dreamstime.com
It seems like every smartphone maker is jumping into the world of foldable tech. Well, everyone except Google.
While renowned tech leakers had previously been informed that Google was working on a foldable Pixel phone, Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC)’s Ross Young, via Gizmodo, now hears from supply-chain partners that the tech giant doesn’t think the project is worth pursuing anymore. As such, plans for the rumored ‘Google Pixel Fold’, as the smartphone was supposed to be called, have been canceled.
The mythical Pixel Fold was believed to resemble the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 in specs. However, its cameras would have been inferior—to Samsung’s and Google’s own. The tech giant has already released the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, but the Pixel Fold would have relied on the same camera configuration as the Pixel 5’s. It’d have an old 12.2MP IMX363 sensor, present in Pixel phones as old as the Pixel 3, a main IMX386 12MP ultra-wide camera, and a pair of 8MP IMX355 sensors for the front.
The Pixel Fold would have lost out to its direct rival, the Galaxy Z Fold 3, from the start as it didn’t feature an under-the-display camera or color on encapsulation, Young detailed in his blog post.
“Our sources indicated that Google believed the product wouldn’t be as competitive as it needed to be,” he wrote. It would also be too costly to bring something of “a small niche market” and try to compete with Samsung, Young added.
Google might eventually return to the idea, but that’s not a possibility in the foreseeable future. “Not in 2021 and reportedly not in the first half of 2022,” said Young in his prediction about when Google might ever launch the Pixel Fold.
Although the company is cutting its losses early, it’s probably still feeling the pinch. After all, its upcoming Android 12L operating system is designed to accommodate larger displays, including flexible smartphone screens like that of the Pixel Fold. The UI sports a two-column layout that would have been ideal for the unreleased smartphone.
[via Gizmodo, cover photo 151782504 © Eric Broder Van Dyke | Dreamstime.com]
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