More than a full month after it was announced, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is finally here, and I have it in my hands. It’s still as elegant as when I first saw it, with its reduced front bezel and larger display, and more specifically with its eye-catching Jade color. I’ve always loved green, so seeing the color come to a premium phone, even under this pastel shade, is a bit of a dream come true.
At first glance, though, it’s tough to differentiate between this phone and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. With a similar design, size, and features, it’s as if the Pixel 10 Pro Fold doesn’t have a reason to exist other than for Google to claim it has a brand new foldable for 2025. What you can’t see are the two major upgrades under the surface, and in my opinion, even though they don’t justify upgrading from the Pixel 9 Pro Fold to the 10 Pro Fold, they do mark a new era for foldable hardware.
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High dust resistance with an IP68 rating
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Even though Google emphasized the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s new gearless hinge, I didn’t notice much difference when I first saw the phone. It’s only when I put it next to last year’s foldable that I saw a thinner and flatter protrusion. And when you open it up, you can clearly see that there’s no air gap between the hinge mechanism and the thin folding display on top. It’s all one piece.
It’s because of this change that the Pixel 10 Pro Fold can claim an IP68 dust and water resistance, similar to candybar Pixel phones that have significantly fewer moving parts. The most crucial aspect of that rating is the dust resistance at 6, the highest possible protection against solid particles. To achieve this rating, any phone has to be placed under negative pressure in a sealed dust chamber filled with fine particles (like talcum powder), for several hours (usually between two and eight), and it can only pass the test and get the IP6X rating if it demonstrates that it’s completely dust-tight. No dust has to be found inside the phone’s enclosure after all of this.
Open hinge on Pixel 9 Pro Fold Fully hermetic hinge on Pixel 10 Pro Fold
I didn’t think foldables could survive this test and reach this level of protection this soon. Every other model still has a gap somewhere. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold, with its open hinge, has no dust resistance whatsoever. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 only has an IP48 rating (lower dust ingress), which is only protected against particles larger than 1mm, like large ants — that’s what Wikipedia says. The closest any other foldable gets is IP58 (mostly dust protected, but some dust will enter the enclosure during the test) for the HONOR Magic V5 and vivo X Fold 5. No other foldable on the market has reached the IP6X dust ingress rating.
Full dust protection is crucial for a phone with moving parts, and the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is the only one to have it.
Because of this, I will finally stop worrying about babying my Pixel foldable all the time. I used to think twice each time I slipped my Pixel 9 Pro Fold into a jeans pocket; I feared that any lint debris might mess up the hinge and display. I barely used it outside of my home, keeping the Pixel 9 Pro XL as my primary phone. And I never even considered taking it on a hike or to the beach — that felt like blasphemy. But those shouldn’t be a problem with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, and I’m glad we’re at this stage now. More foldables should hopefully follow soon, or they’ll be left in the dust.
Qi2 with built-in magnets
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
When every other foldable is going for the thinnest and slimmest award, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is bucking the trend and standing tall as the last chunky boy. And while that feels a bit regressive and disappointing, Google did justify that by making two important additions to the phone: a larger battery and Qi2 wireless charging with the built-in magnets.
Once again, this is the first foldable with complete Qi2 support — not “Qi2-ready” à la Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 — with the magnets to go with it. This addition essentially makes the Pixel 10 Pro Fold Magsafe-compatible straight out of the box, without any added ring or case. All of my Magsafe chargers, wallets, stands, tripods, flashlights, car holders, and other accessories work without any problem on the phone.
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
I can hear you arguing that adding a metallic ring or Magsafe-compatible case does essentially the same thing for every other foldable. Still, I’ve already explained and will repeat as many times as needed that built-in magnets are a different level, and not just for those who use their phones without a case. For one, almost all third-party cases for the Pixel 10 Pro Fold support magnets by default, which wasn’t the case (ha!) for the 9 Pro Fold. So, there’s more choice for anyone wanting to protect their phone because magnets are no longer an afterthought for case makers.
Built-in Qi2 with magnets means case and accessory makers will take this foldable seriously.
Second, this also forces accessory brands to consider Qi2 when making an accessory for the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, and to consider the Pixel 10 Pro Fold when making or marketing any Qi2/Magsafe accessory. When magnets are the norm and not a secret hack only a few geeks know about, they become a real part of the accessory equation. I’m sure we’ll soon see wireless charging stands explicitly designed to hold the Pixel 10 Pro Fold with its larger display open, or more magnetic tripods designed to hold the phone in both its folded and unfolded states. None of this would happen without built-in magnets.
With the Pixel 10 Pro Fold starting this built-in magnet revolution, I hope other foldable makers follow suit. It’s the way to go if we want Android phones and their users to benefit from a vast ecosystem of compatible accessories and a large choice of brands, prices, colors, and ideas.
Minor changes to hide a lackluster upgrade?
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
If I’m here waxing a bit lyrical about two important, but relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, updates to the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, it’s because there’s very little else that this year’s foldable offers over last year’s phone. Yes, storage has been upgraded from UFS 3.1, but our UFS 4.0 tests show that the Pixel 10 Pro phones aren’t benefiting as much as they should from it. And for all the talk about the switch to the 3nm TSMC processor, our Tensor G5 benchmark results don’t show as big an improvement as we expected.
These aren't enough reasons to upgrade from the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, but they do move the needle forward for all foldables.
That means that the only real upgrades to the Pixel 10 Pro Fold are the more durable hinge, which can withstand twice as many folds and unfolds, allows for a larger front display, and contributes to the phone’s IP68 rating. And the built-in Qi2. None of these should be reason enough for you to upgrade from the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, but if you have the older original Pixel Fold, this year’s model is obviously more desirable than last year’s if only for its extra resistance to dust. No one wants to pay such an astronomical sum only to have their phone die because of some pocket lint. And if you’re looking for a new foldable in the US and want all of Google’s special Pixel features and software tricks, then this is the one to get.
What these two minor upgrades are doing is moving the needle forward for all future foldables. Last year, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold leaped ahead in terms of thinness and pocketability; this year, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is doing it for dust resistance and Qi2/Magsafe convenience. And for that, I love the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. May we see Google adopt a thinner design and a less noticeable display crease next year.
Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold Top-tier specs • IP68 rating • 6.4-inch outer and 8-inch inner displays MSRP: $1,799.00 Thinner, more powerful, and a bigger display The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold combines a 6.4-inch front display with a folding 8-inch inner panel for two capable viewing experiences. With the Tensor G5 shipset, 16GB of RAM, and lots of UFS 4.0 storage options, it matches the Pixel 10 Pro XL in terms of specifications and performance. The folding phone also offers a triple camera setup, plenty of powerful AI features, wireless charging, and an IP68 rating. See price at Amazon
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