The Pixel 11 Pro Fold goes after foldables’ weak spots with a tougher design

What you need to know

The Pixel 11 Pro Fold goes official, and it is nearly 10% lighter and about 1mm thinner than its predecessor.
A glass-fiber composite back, ceramic outer cover glass, and new gearless hinge make the Fold three times more durable than the previous model.
HiLight is one of the headline features, designed to use different colors for calls from favorite contacts and provide visual cues when Gemini is being used hands-free.
The Pixel 11 Pro Fold is up for preorder and arrives on August 20.

If you were hoping Google would chase Samsung down the rabbit hole of razor-thin foldables, you’re about to be disappointed. The Pixel 11 Pro Fold is here, and while it’s much lighter and thinner than its predecessor, it’s not trying to win a slimming contest with the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which weighs 201g.

Google says the Pixel 11 Pro Fold is nearly 10% lighter and about 1mm thinner than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, along with a new hinge and stronger materials. That said, it does weigh 239g, so Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 is still a lot more portable. Samsung’s new Fold is also 9.7mm thick when closed versus the Pixel’s 10.1mm.

Google’s answer is durability. The Pixel 11 Pro Fold has a glass-fiber composite back, a ceramic cover glass on the outer display, and a new gearless hinge. The company says the combo makes it three-times more durable than its predecessor, while the bigger bend radius and thicker inner glass of the hinge are meant to improve the crease. The phone still has an IP68 rating, too.

Powerful hardware

Inside, Google stuffs the Fold with 16GB of RAM, Tensor G6, and up to 1TB of Zoned UFS storage, a new flash storage technology for mobile devices that segregates data into separate logical “zones” to enhance long-term performance and boost storage longevity.

The battery capacity is 4,750mAh and is rated for over 24 hours, and 30W wired charging will supposedly get you to 50% in around 30 minutes. Pixelsnap also supports up to 25W Qi2.2 wireless charging.

Photography gets a substantial push, too. The Pixel 11 Pro Fold has a 48MP main camera, a 10.5MP ultrawide with autofocus and macro focus, and a 10.8MP 5x telephoto, with up to 30x Super Zoom. That gives Google a clear zoom-focused angle against Samsung’s dual 50MP rear cameras on the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which offers up to 10x digital zoom.

Google is also making the new Fold feel more like a real productivity tool. App bubbles are designed for the big screen, and Split Screen, Drag and Drop, Instant View, and improved Made You Look animations are still here. The new sign-to-text translation leverages the camera, Gboard, and Live Transcribe to convert American Sign Language into text on the outer display.

Then there’s HiLight, a new LED system built around the camera flash. It can flicker in a variety of colors for calls from your favorite contacts and provide visual cues during hands-free Gemini interactions, with more notification features coming soon.

The Pixel 11 Pro Fold is available to preorder now in Olive and Obsidian colorways. It starts at $1,899 and will be released on August 20.