Google says goodbye to the idea of making a foldable smartphone: here's why the Pixel Fold project has been abandoned
Those who were waiting for the first foldable smartphone from Google convinced that it would arrive soon will be very disappointed. Big G has decided to abandon the idea of a Pixel Fold to be launched along with the new Pixel 6 series and is unlikely to arrive in early 2022.
The reason that has prompted Google to give up its foldable would be in the great success achieved by the models of the South Korean rival Samsung. The Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold are now in their third series and prove to be excellent foldable smartphones, while the foldable model of the Mountain View giant would not yet be at their level. To reveal the farewell of Google to its Pixel Fold is Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants, which in a leak reveals how Big G would cancel the order of components needed to assemble the foldable smartphones. Without those parts, in short, impossible for the Pixel Fold to be made by 2021.
Google won't make the Pixel Fold
Many were waiting for the presentation of the long-awaited Pixel Fold already along with the Pixel 6 in late October, but something went wrong. Google presented only the new Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, the top of the range smartphones that will be on sale in Italy in the first months of 2022.
The clues about an arrival of the first foldable smartphone of Big G were many, starting from the stable version of Android 12L, where L stands for large screen, because it is designed for tablets and foldable screens that will arrive in March 2022. Other leaks came from the code of the Google Camera app, which indicated 2022 as the release date of the first foldable smartphone.
The latest leak, however, announces a total change of course: the Google Pixel Fold will not happen. Leaker Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants explains that Google has cancelled all orders for the components needed to build its foldable smartphones and there are no new orders until the first half of 2022. This means only one thing: the Pixel Fold will not be produced, at least for now.
Google gives up on the Pixel Fold: the reason
Behind the renunciation of Google, which seemed sure by now to want to launch in the foldable market, there would be the ruthless competition from South Korean rival Samsung. Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 are foldable smartphones with excellent features, which Google's model would not be able to match.
Rumors about the Pixel Fold's specs spoke of a 7.57-inch screen with 120 Hz refresh rate and a Google Tensor chip, while the camera remained rather modest compared to rivals. Big G would have thought it couldn't beat Samsung, at least for now, and that the production costs would have been too high compared to the possible profits.
A farewell to foldables from Google that is most likely just a goodbye: when Big G will think it can make a competitive Pixel Fold we will definitely see it on the market. And meanwhile other rumors speak of new challenges to Samsung, with Apple that would be working on the first foldable iPhone to be presented by 2025. What is certain, is that the future of smartphones is the foldable and there will be no shortage of novelties.