Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 vs Google Pixel Fold
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Google Pixel Fold Go Head-to-Head: Which Foldable Is Right For You?
As the war of foldables heats up, we’re thrilled to present a captivating face-off between the reigning champion in Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4, and the highly anticipated Google Pixel Fold.
Google officially jumped into the arena with its recent announcement in early May. Although it’s been four years since Samsung introduced its first foldable smartphone, Google’s entry undoubtedly adds a newfound sense of legitimacy to the burgeoning foldable space.
With the arrival of a formidable contender in the US, we’re eagerly watching to see whether the Z Fold’s dominance will remain unchallenged or if Google will carve out a substantial portion of the market share.
If you find yourself torn between the Z Fold 4 and the Pixel Fold, this article is for you.
We provide an unbiased analysis, delving into every little nook and cranny to showcase the core strengths and weaknesses of each device. This review aims to help readers understand what both devices offer so you can make the best decision based on your needs and preferences.
Let’s jump in.
The Design
The first thing that’s evident about the Pixel Fold is how much it resembles a Pixel 7 Pro. In contrast, the Z Fold 4 bears few similarities to its non-foldable counterpart, the S23 Ultra.
This distinction highlights Google’s design choice for a cohesive brand identity, which might be good or bad depending on your feelings toward the Pixel 7 Pro.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Pixel Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 4 have the exact same 7.6-inch viewing area when unfolded. As for specific measurements, the Pixel Fold comes in at 5.5 inches tall, 6.2 inches wide, and a mere 0.2 inches in depth when open. When it’s closed, the phone measures 5.5 inches tall, 3.1 inches wide, and 0.5 inches thick with a 5.8-inch viewing area for the cover screen.
The Z Fold 4, in contrast, unfolds to a size of 6.1 inches tall, 5.1 inches wide, and 0.25 inches thick, and when folded, the cover measures 6.1 inches tall, 2.6 inches wide, and 0.6 inches thick with a 6.2-inch viewing area.
As you see, the Z Fold 4 has a larger cover screen with 6.2 inches of real estate compared to the Pixel Fold’s 5.8 inches, however, its narrow profile presents an unconventional user experience. The cover screen is unusually tall and slim making it feel more like a high-tech TV remote than a smartphone.
A closed Pixel Fold in comparison gives a wider, more natural feel as if you’re using a normal smartphone. Some on our team mentioned it’s like holding a passport.
Next, let’s talk about the physical materials used to manufacture each device. Google went with the industry standard Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, for the front and back panels while an aluminum frame is used to keep everything together.
Ironically the Z Fold 4 makes use of the newer and tougher Gorilla Glass Victus+ for the front and back panels despite being the older phone. As for the frame, it’s a proprietary material called ‘Armor Aluminum” that Samsung’s engineers designed in-house.
Lastly, we meet the hinges. Google promises that its unique quad-cam teardrop hinge mechanism can outperform competing designs when it comes to the number of folds and unfolds in addition to reducing the visibility display creasing.
Although the Z Fold 4 has a rather praiseworthy hinge design itself, creasing is still a major issue. Our sources say the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 will sport a completely reengineered hinge to address issues surrounding the crease as well as other problems.
In closing, for round one, we give the edge to Google Pixel Fold. Both devices offer strong designs and identical screen dimensions when unfolded, but the Pixel Fold feels more natural than the Z Fold 4 when using the cover screen making it less cramped and more usable in our opinion.
Best Design Winner: Google Pixel Fold
The Display
We’ll keep this section short, sweet, and simple: Samsung wins.
Now if you’re wondering why we’re being so blunt to spoil the ending, the straightforward answer is Samsung makes the display for both devices. How could we possibly give the crown for the best display to Google’s Pixel Fold when it’s produced by Samsung?
Samsung has been a leader in display technology for years, and the company’s expertise shines through in both the Z Fold 4 and Pixel Fold. If you’d like a more in-depth analysis of the Z Fold 4’s screen, check out our recent review.
Another major advantage of the Z Fold 4 over the Pixel Fold is stylus support. Unfortunately, Google didn’t include this functionality for the Pixel Fold.
Best Display Winner: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
- FLEX MODE: Free up your hands with Flex Mode on the Galaxy Z Fold4; This smartphone stands on its own so you can take notes during a conference call or follow along with instructional videos in real time
- HANDS FREE VIDEO: Don’t stay stuck to your cellphone; Set up your phone in Flex Mode and check off your to-dos while catching up with friends; Hands-free video chat lets you multitask and move freely while staying in frame
- MULTI-VIEW WINDOW: Easily attend a virtual work meeting and capture important notes at the same time, or catch up on your favorite shows as you answer texts; With multiple windows, doing different tasks is easy with Galaxy Z Fold4
- S PEN READY: Transform your Galaxy Z Fold4 into a multifunctional device with S Pen;* It gives you that pen-on-paper feeling and makes it easy to take notes while attending virtual meetings, drag and drop** content, and get more done
- YOUR APPS, YOUR WAY: App display optimization allows you to customize how you see apps on the edge-to-edge screen of Galaxy Z Fold4; Also, use multiple apps to their full potential by dragging and dropping** content from one window to the other
Performance, Specs, OS, Battery
Now it’s time to dive into the meat and potatoes.
Performance and Specs
Google’s Pixel Fold is captained by the new Tensor G2 SoC which was first announced in late 2022. The processor inside the G2 uses a 2-2-4 configuration made up of a pair of 2.8GHz ARM Cortex-X1 cores, a pair of 2.35GHz ARM Cortex-A78 cores, and four 1.80GHz ARM Cortex-A55 cores. The Pixel Fold ships with 12GB RAM standard.
For graphics workloads, the G2 packs a Mali-G710 MP7 GPU that delivers top-notch rendering capabilities, seamless visuals, high frame rates, and stunning detail for multimedia playback and mobile gaming.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, featuring an 8-core 4-nanometer ARM architecture. More specifically, you get a single Kryo Prime Cortex-X2 (3.2GHz max), three Kryo Gold Cortex-A710 cores (2.75GHz max), and four Kryo Silver Cortex-A510 cores (1.8GHz max). The Z Fold 4 also gets 12GB RAM standard across all variants.
Graphics processing is handled by the much more powerful Adreno 730 series GPU. Although the Pixel Fold’s G2 chip outclasses in terms of GPU frequency (850 MHz vs. 818 MHz for Z Fold 4) and has four more execution units, the Z Fold blows it out of the water when it comes to shading units and FLOP.
If GPU jargon sounds like a foreign language, the important thing to know is shading units play a crucial role in the overall performance and visual quality of a GPU. They handle tasks such as vertex shading, pixel shading, geometry shading, and other shading operations required for rendering realistic graphics.
On the other hand, higher FLOPS indicate greater computational power and better performance in applications that rely heavily on floating-point operations like 3D games, virtual reality, computer simulations, and machine learning.
OS
Samsung’s edge in display manufacturing finds an equal match in Google’s command over software development since they own Android OS.
Nevertheless, both the Z Fold 4 and the Pixel Fold deliver intuitive, seamless, and remarkably polished user experiences. They share numerous similarities and are virtually identical except for Samsung’s added touch of branding and customization through the One UI 5.0 interface layered on top of the operating system.
As of now, Android 13 is the latest version for both devices, although Android 14 is nearing the end of its public beta testing phase. While the official release date remains unannounced, it’s highly anticipated that it will make its debut later this year.
Battery
Google proudly markets the Pixel Fold as the “thinnest” foldable available. Our first thought was the company must have sacrificed battery life to pull off such an achievement. But interestingly this isn’t the case because the Pixel Fold has a respectable battery capacity of 4,821mAh which is less than the Pixel 7 Pro’s 5000mAh, but more than the 4,400mAh battery found in the Galaxy Z Fold 4.
Google’s lab tests suggest users will be able to get upwards of 33 hours of life under normal usage. This puts it on par with the Pixel 7 Pro which gets well over a day and a half if you’re not using too many battery-intensive apps.
However, something cool you won’t find on the Pixel Fold that the Z Fold 4 has is reverse charging, where you can recharge earbuds and other devices from the back panel. This is a useful feature that’s surprisingly rare for smartphones sold in the US.
Both devices support wireless charging and use USB-C ports for wired charging, with a max of 30W for the Pixel Fold and 25W for the Z Fold 4.
Best Performance, Specs, OS, and Battery Winner: Google Pixel Fold
Camera
Both camera setups are top-of-the-line. But maybe this isn’t a big surprise because we’re comparing a Google phone against a Samsung and both companies are very well-known for their phenomenal image quality.
They both have a five-camera setup with three on the rear panel, one front-facing cam for the main screen, and one for the cover screen.
As mentioned above, the Google Pixel Fold takes a lot of design cues from other Pixel phones, so the first thing you’ll notice is the camera bar looks identical to other Pixel flagships. Here you’ll find a 48MP main, 10.8MP ultra-wide, and a 10.8 telephoto with upwards of 20x Super Res zoom. The front cover has a 9.5MP cam and the main screen has a 8MP cam.
The Z Fold 4, on the other hand, has a 4MP on the main panel, 10MP on the cover, and the back cover features a 50MP wide, 12MP ultra-wide, and telephoto that comes in at 10MP. For a closer look at the Z Fold 4’s camera array, check out our full review.
Best Camera Winner: Draw
- 7.6", Foldable OLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1000 nits (HBM), 1450 nits (peak), 1840 x 2208 pixels, Cover display: 5.8" OLED, 120Hz, HDR,1080 x 2092 pixels, 17.4:9 ratio, 408ppi, 1200 nits (HBM), 1550 nits (peak)
- 256GB 12GB RAM, Octa-core, Google Tensor G2 (5nm), Mali-G710 MP7, Android 13, upgradable to Android 14, 4821mAh Battery, IPX8 water resistant
- Rear Camera: 48MP, f/1.7 + 10.8MP, f/3.1 (telephoto) + 10.8MP, f/2.2 (ultrawide), Front Camera: 8MP, f/2.0, Cover camera: 9.5MP, f/2.2
- CDMA 800/1700/1900, 3G: HSDPA 800/850/900/1700(AWS)/1900/2100, CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, 4G LTE: 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/14/17/18/19/20/25/26/28/29/30/38/39/40/41/42/46/48/66/71 5G: 1/2/3/5/7/8/12/14/20/25/28/30/38/40/41/48/66/71/77/78/79/257/258/260/261 SA/NSA/Sub6 - Nano-SIM and eSIM
- Unlocked for freedom to choose your carrier. Compatible with both GSM & CDMA networks. The phone is unlocked to work with all GSM Carriers & CDMA Carriers Including AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint., Etc.
Price and Availability
At present, both phones sell for the exact price of $1799. We expect this may change slightly in the coming weeks once Samsung unveils the Z Fold 5, which could potentially lead to a price cut for the Z Fold 4.
As always, be sure to use our exclusive links if you’re looking for the best deal on a Z Fold 4.
As we write this article, the Pixel Fold is rapidly approaching its launch date, and the initial batch of units is scheduled to be released just before the close of June.
All major US retailers and mobile providers are expected to carry the Pixel Fold once available. Buyers can choose from 12GB RAM and 256GB or 512GB storage. Colorways include a black color called Obsidian and a white color called Porcelain.
To find the best discounts and deals for the Pixel Fold, be sure to use our links.
1799 Both
The Final Verdict
In the battle of the flagship foldables, after careful consideration, we feel the Google Pixel Fold has dethroned the Samsung Z Fold 4.
Both devices offer impressive features and experiences, but the Pixel Fold manages to stand above the Z Fold 4 in our opinion.
Firstly, we feel the design which compares to a conventional smartphone when closed, sets it apart from the Z Fold 4’s somewhat uncomfortable tall and narrow build.
Additionally, the software is another area where the Pixel Fold shines. Since Google owns Android OS, the Pixel Fold benefits from tighter integration with the operating system, resulting in a cohesive and purer Android experience.
Overall, while we’re siding with the Pixel Fold, you really can’t go wrong with either choice.
To learn more about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, click here.
For more information about the Google Pixel Fold, click here.
We expect things will continue to heat up with the fast-approaching announcement of the Z Fold 5 and possibly a foldable iPhone from Apple. If you’re interested in seeing more comparison articles, stay tuned!
