Google needs to pull up its socks to stay relevant in the foldables space
The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold is priced at Rs. 1,86,999 in India
Like most smartphone manufacturers, Google has made small, subtle improvements to its Pixel lineup. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold was a generational leap, not just with its overall design, but also with Google's software. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold was all about Google's big push for AI. With the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, Google is pushing even harder in that direction, but unlike before, its new foldable faces a brand-new competitor — Apple's iPhone Duo.
The iPhone Duo arrives in India with a staggering price tag of Rs. 2,99,900 for the base 256GB variant. While the iPhone Duo will impress Apple iPhone users, it is a first-generation device, so we don't expect it to be perfect. But this puts even more pressure on Google to ensure its newest foldable delivers the peak foldable experience on this side of the fence, because it builds Android!
I have used the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, and I've pointed out their obvious issues in my reviews. The Pixel 11 Pro Fold I received for review also went through the same grind during testing. After several weeks with the foldable, I must conclude that its hardware has matured, but its software experience still needs a bit of polish. Here's why.
Google's Pixel 11 Pro Fold doesn't get a design refresh, but it gets smaller changes. The minor design changes include a slightly redesigned camera module, a thinner hinge cover, and noticeably thinner borders on the cover display.
The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold has subtle design changes that make it feel compact and lighter than the previous model
Interestingly, these changes do add up. The new foldable feels both slimmer and lighter than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold it replaces. The phone also feels slightly narrower than the previous model, which makes it feel more compact. This is a win for Google as the compact form factor feels rewarding when you unfold the large main display.
Build quality is good for the most part, save for the bottom USB-C port. It feels very sharp when you hold the phone up, as all 239 grams rest on your pinky.
When unfolded, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold's body is as thin as a USB-C port
The new HiLight lamp works like the good old LED notification light, just less practical. It glows when you're talking to Gemini or when your favourite contacts call, provided you have assigned a specific colour.
The Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold's displays remain similar in dimensions to the Pixel 10 Pro Fold's. The cover display has a minor drop in resolution despite growing from 6.4 to 6.5 inches. Google promises slightly brighter panels this year, but I noticed nothing substantially different from last year's model.
The main folding display is bright enough to tackle outdoor sunlight
HDR content, including photos and video captured by the phones, appears bright and vibrant. You can tone down the display's saturation levels by switching to the ‘Natural' colour profile. I noticed no difference in durability either. The screen still feels delicate, while the crease remains as deep as before. You will not notice the crease when viewing it front and centre, but you will when swiping across the display or viewing it outdoors at an angle.
Google's Pixel 11 Pro Fold packs a few new software tricks, some of which will also make it to the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Gemini Intelligence with its agentic capabilities is quite smart. It can find and fetch details from your email, calendar and files, provided you have a Google AI Pro Plan (Rs. 1,950 per month). It can also proactively surface details as visual cards (or chips) when needed.
Agentic capabilities aside, I was most impressed by Rambler, which you can access in Google's GBoard. Having used Nothing's Essential Voice (limited to Nothing devices), I found it works similarly but seems much smarter. Unlike most speech-to-text services or apps, Rambler understands context extremely well. It knows exactly when to turn your lengthy message into bullet points, add paragraphs, and more impressively, even understands local languages and terms, getting product and other names accurately. When testing the device, I always switched to Rambler while chatting because it was much faster and more accurate than typing, which now feels like a chore.
After debuting Camera Coach with the Pixel 10 Pro series, we now have another camera feature called Magic Capture. I found the feature useful during busy occasions when you're both the host and the photographer. The system continuously sifts through live scenes and automatically picks and curates the best moments, so you don't have to tap the shutter button manually.
Bubbling apps is a great way to stay focused on the main task
A new software feature introduced this year is Bubbles, which lets you run a third app even after having two apps open in split-screen mode. This third (active) app floats in a window, letting you switch back and forth between your active workspace (the dual split or single full-screen app) and the third app, which you can attend to only when needed. For someone who often hops from one app to another (conveniently ignoring the main task), such a feature is a blessing on Pixel. It lets me slide in and out of WhatsApp conversations with ease instead of losing focus on the task at hand, whether that's a video, an article I was reading in Chrome, or work-related ideas I was jotting down in Docs. You can bubble up to five apps in the Bubble dock, but only one floating bubbled app is visible at a time.
App optimisation is still a problem in 2026
After years of experimenting, Android app developers have gradually developed flexible designs (adaptive apps) that loosely stretch edge to edge to fill a tablet or foldable screen. Only a handful of apps offer split view or a true two-pane tablet layout for browsing. And foldable users have gotten used to this stepmotherly treatment because developers just aren't interested in creating or optimising apps for different foldable designs, which come in all shapes and sizes.
Instagram videos appear in a weird and boxed-out layout with black borders on all four sides
Now that Apple has released its iPhone Duo, loyal developers are rushing to create new app experiences just for that model. This sudden developer interest in the iPhone Duo exposes the shabbiness and overall lack of polish in Android foldable apps. It will become more obvious to foldable buyers making them think twice about owning an Android-powered foldable, because all those well-optimised apps will only be available on the iPhone Duo. Of course, this could have the reverse effect on the Android app ecosystem, with developers who offer both now finally taking the time to optimise their apps for Android and iOS foldables. But given the lack of developer interest (and more importantly enthusiasm) in building great apps for Android in general, I don't have faith that this will ever happen.
Google's YouTube app cannot go full-screen (or half-screen) in tabletop mode because of the obnoxiously thick status bar
A simple example is the YouTube app. Google made it, and it supports various modes depending on the device's posture. However, videos cannot go full-screen when in tabletop mode. This is mainly because of the “huge” status bar, which results from the display's wider corners. This giant status bar also shows up in Instagram and adds unnecessary black bars when you watch videos. Oddly, the Netflix app has this figured out, even though it shows no controls in the bottom half, unlike the YouTube app.
As each year passes, Google once again decided to bring only one Pixel 11 Pro Fold storage option to India. Given the small price bump over last year's model, I appreciate that buyers shelling out this much for a foldable will at least get 512GB of internal storage, compared to the 256GB variant, which may have been a deal-breaker for many since Google brought its Pixel Fold to India.
After switching to TSMC, Google finally seems to have cleared the 4GHz mark in 2026. The performance improvements are welcome and I was able to play most games (Asphalt 9 Legends, Call of Duty: Mobile) without any problems. I noticed no hiccups or stuttering when browsing through Android 17 and third-party apps. So, I can conclude that Google's Fold, after years of remaining behind, has finally made it.
| Benchmarks | Pixel 11 Pro Fold | Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Rs. 1,86,999 | Rs. 1,99,999 |
| Display resolution | FHD+ / 2076 x 2152 pixels | 1080 x 2520 / 2256 x 2504 pixels |
| Chipset | Google Tensor G6 (3nm) | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (3nm) |
| AnTuTu v10 | 14,79,580 / 15,37,644 | 28,64,477 / 18,42,665 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 17,682 / 17,384 | 20,079 / 20,701 |
| Geekbench 6 Single | NA | 3,534/ 3,122 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi | NA | 9,973/ 9,155 |
| Geekbench 7 Single | 2,324 / 2,143 | NA |
| Geekbench 7 Multi | 6,404 / 5,055 | NA |
| Geekbench AI CPU (Quantized) | 3,934 / 4,205 | NA |
| Geekbench AI GPU (Quantized) | 734 / 791 | NA |
| 3DM Wild Life | Maxed Out / Maxed Out | Maxed Out / Maxed Out |
| 3DM Wild Life Unlimited | 14,525 / 14,507 | 24,408 / 19,868 |
| 3DM Steel Nomad Light | 1,176 / 1,220 | NA |
Yes, it does warm up, but unlike past models, daily performance doesn't take a massive hit, partially due to a vapour chamber cooling system. The Google Pixel still struggles with high-end, graphically demanding games, mainly because of its PowerVR GPU, and there's no real solution for this other than picking another foldable.
Like it did with its Pixel 10 Pro Fold, Google has once again gone with the same camera hardware it used last year. This means that the hardware is now three years old and is identical to the gear used on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which was Google's first major redesign after the original Pixel Fold. Google has worked on the imaging, but it all happens at the ISP and software-level, so the changes to image quality are very minor.
Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold ultrawide camera samples (tap images to expand)
Photos captured by the ultrawide camera are average when compared to regular flagships. The main culprit (as it has been for several years) is the low-resolution sensor, which can't extract much detail from a given scene. The photos look fine unless you pinch to zoom, when you can clearly spot the lack of resolved detail and defined textures. Dynamic range is quite good, so there's plenty of detail in the shadows and bright areas. The main issue is colour consistency, which looks a bit different from the other two cameras. In low-light settings, image quality softens, and details get murkier. You can get better images from a Pixel 10a.
Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold primary camera samples (tap images to expand)
The primary does a fine job in daylight and low-light settings. Its high-resolution sensor delivers clear, detailed images. Dynamic range is good, but I did notice some clipped highlights in certain situations. These were rare and usually occurred in low-light settings with extremely bright light sources (halogens) causing them.
The periscope telephoto camera is a bit moody, and it works best with the Manual Lens selection turned on under Pro Camera Settings. The auto camera selection (on by default) will automatically switch to a 5X crop of the primary camera if you get close to your subject. The resulting photo is nowhere as sharp or as detailed as the one captured by the telephoto camera.
Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold telephoto camera samples (tap images to expand)
The photos this camera captures are sharp and surprisingly detailed, given that it uses a 10.8-megapixel sensor. You can also get some impressive close-ups provided you check the focus before you tap the shutter.
Top: Outer selfie camera. Bottom: Primary camera selfie (tap images to expand)
The outer and inner selfie cameras capture quality photos in daylight but average low-light images that look a bit soft. Since this is a foldable, you can work around this limitation by using the primary camera and the cover display as the viewfinder, which captures sharp, detailed photos.
Video quality from the rear cameras is good but far from impressive. Quality and sharpness aren't issues, but don't expect Pro-grade stabilisation or rock-steady frame rates while shooting.
One detail I wasn't too happy to learn was about the Pixel 11 Pro Fold's lower-capacity battery. Fortunately, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold just about manages a full day of heavy to mixed usage on a full charge, but it won't hold up well against the competition. In PCMark's Battery Life test, the phone managed 15 hours and 13 minutes on the cover display and 11 hours and 34 minutes on the main display. These numbers are fine, but far from impressive, even against last year's model, which scored better (17 hours and 15 minutes on cover display) in the same test.
The Pixel 11 Pro Fold can just about manage a whole day with heavy usage with a full charge
Since Apple has managed to retain its MagSafe capabilities on its first foldable (even if it's chubby), it's nice to see Google hasn't given up on this in its quest to get thinner with every passing year. Those who use wireless charging may favour the Pixel 11 Pro Fold versus other Android foldables as it's the only one to offer magnetic wireless charging. Wired charging is a wee bit faster, managing a 47 percent charge in 30 minutes and a full charge in 1 hour and 30 minutes. This is mainly due to the reduced battery capacity and nothing else.
While I am thoroughly impressed by the capabilities of Google's new foldable, Apple's iPhone Duo showcase has rained down on Google's parade. While we have yet to see how Apple's first foldable performs and delivers, it has managed to create a hype that's been missing from the Android foldables scene for years.
This year, more than ever, should have been Google's best foot forward not just with hardware but also with software, but the obvious lack of software polish may convince many to switch over to Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra (Review), Vivo's X Fold 6 (First Impressions) and now… Apple's iPhone Duo (First Impressions).
Its lower sticker price and built-in magnetic wireless charging might make it an attractive option compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, but it's not winning any battles against the rest anytime soon. Its creator-friendly cameras are an interesting step for such a device category, but Google needs to desperately upgrade its camera and polish its software to keep up with the rest.
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