Which Flagship Foldable Should You Choose?

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is an ambitious foldable from the house of Google. It offers bright screens, a more capable chipset, and a massive battery, but is it better than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7? Let’s find out.

Price & Availability

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold ($1,799) is currently available for pre-order and will hit stores on October 9, 2025.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 ($1,999.99) is available on Samsung’s website and other authorized retailers.

Rounded vs. Boxy Corners

Google

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold features rounded corners, thicker bezels, and a massive rear camera module. On the other hand, Samsung’s foldable has sharper, boxy corners, with thinner bezels on both the cover and the primary screen, as well as a sleeker camera module on the back.

Samsung’s latest book-style foldable is taller, but the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is wider, making its inner screen look like a perfect square. Another drastic difference is the thickness. The Fold 7’s side profile is exceptionally thin, both in its folded state (8.9 mm vs. 10.8 mm) and unfolded state (4.2 mm vs. 5.2 mm). Furthermore, the Fold 7 is 43 grams lighter than the Pixel Fold.

Justin Duino / How-To Geek

Regarding the materials, both phones employ the tried-and-tested formula of metallic frames with glass front/back. Although both phones use Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2 at the back, the Pixel uses the same material for the cover screen, whereas the Fold uses Gorilla Glass Victus Ceramic 2 (which is slightly thinner).

Google manufactures the Pixel 10 Pro Fold in two colors: Moonstone and Jade. The Fold 7, conversely, is available in four colors: Jetblack, Blue Shadow, Silver Shadow, and Mint (online exclusive).

Giving credit where due, the Pixel foldable is the first in its segment to feature an IP68 rating, making it as water- and dust-resistant as mainstream flagships like the Galaxy S25 and the Pixel 10 series. In contrast, the Fold 7 carries an IP48 rating, implying that the phone isn’t entirely dustproof.

The Fold 7 Offers Brighter Screens

Google

Regarding the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s screens, it features a 6.4-inch OLED LTPS (60-120Hz) cover screen with a peak HDR brightness of 2,000 nits. On the inside, it features a massive 8.0-inch Super Actua Flex LTPO (1-120Hz) screen that is a bit less bright in the HDR mode (1,800 nits).

Given the additional screen estate, the inner display also loses some resolution; its effective pixel density is less than that of the cover screen (373 ppi vs. 408 ppi). Some common features include a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, HDR support, and full 24-bit color depth, which enables 16 million colors.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7, on the other hand, provides a similar experience with both screens. The 6.5-inch cover display and the 8.0-inch inner foldable screen utilize a Dynamic AMOLED 2x LTPO (1-120Hz) panel that achieves a peak brightness of 2,600 nits. This means that the foldable’s cover screen is smoother and more efficient than that of the Pixel.

Although the inner screen loses some pixels (368 ppi vs. 422 ppi), it has a higher screen-to-body ratio and, therefore, noticeably slimmer bezels than those on the Pixel fold. You also get HDR10+ support.

Tensor G5 vs. Snapdragon 8 Elite

Google

Under its shiny exterior, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold comes equipped with the Google Tensor G5 (3nm) chipset, with a 3.78GHz prime core, a new Imagination DXT GPU (without support for raytracing), and a TPU that’s much faster at running the Gemini Nano AI model (entirely on the device).

Additionally, the handset features 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage (with Zoned UFS storage available on the 512GB and higher variants). Overall, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold achieves a notable performance improvement over its predecessor. Google’s TPU optimization makes it one of the fastest smartphones for executing AI-based tasks.

While all those additions make the Pixel 10 Pro Fold a solid everyday performer, it still can’t match the benchmark set by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy (3nm) featured on the Galaxy Z Fold 7. With its 4.47GHz prime core, the Adreno 830 GPU (supports ray tracing), the Hexagon NPU, the foldable comes with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage.

Android 16 vs. One UI 8

Joe Fedewa / How-To Geek

Out of the box, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold runs the cleanest version of Android 16 and will get seven years of major operating system updates. The latest Android version includes features such as Live Updates, Material 3 Expressive design language, desktop windowing to utilize the massive inner screen, and a nifty game controller functionality on the outer screen.

The handset also gets several AI-based additions, such as the Daily Hub (similar to Samsung’s Now Brief), the Magic Cue feature that shows actionable insights across multiple Google apps, improved camera sharing with Gemini Live, and deeper integration of the AI assistant across the operating system. The camera also features a couple of AI capabilities.

Samsung

Despite not being a Google-branded phone, the Fold 7 was the first handset (not just a foldable) to debut with an Android 16-based user interface: One UI 8. It comes with tweaks across Samsung’s applications, such as My Files (per-app filters), Quick Share (simplified interface), improved Samsung DeX external display support, notification grouping, and a new 90:10 split-screen mode.

Among the new AI-based features are camera sharing with Gemini Live, a dedicated split view for the AI outputs, AI Select shortcut in the Edge Panel, and Now Bar enhancements. Aside from that, you have the entire suite of Galaxy AI features at your disposal. Like the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, the Fold 7 will also get Android updates for seven years since launch.

Pixel 10 Pro Fold Provides Higher Optical Zoom

Google

Both phones can record 4K HDR video at up to 60 fps, offer extended zoom ranges with dedicated telephoto shooters, and feature two punch-hole cameras (one on the cover screen and the other on the main screen). They can also capture macro shots using the ultrawide camera. However, the differences far outweigh the similarities.

Objectively speaking, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold provides a higher optical zoom range than the Samsung foldable (5x vs. 3x). It offers features like Super Res Zoom (up to 20x), Pro Controls, Add Me, Night Sight (for both photos and videos), Auto Best Take, Top Shot, and AI-based features such as Pixel Studio, Auto Frame, Reimagine, and Magic Eraser.

The video resolution is limited to 4K at 60 fps, along with Digital Video Zoom (up to 20x). What’s new, however, is Camera Coach, which offers real-time guidance to improve the overall composition and conversational editing (called Edit with Ask Photos). You use the Gemini AI assistant to make the required changes to the photos.

Justin Duino / How-To Geek

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7, on the other hand, should provide better-quality images from the 200MP sensor, even when binned in the 12MP (default) mode. Its ultrawide sensor, however, isn’t as wide as the Pixel 10 Pro Fold (127° vs. 120°), but the inner screen’s selfie shooter is wider (18mm vs. 23mm). Samsung also offers native 8K video resolution at 30 fps.

Another difference is the primary camera’s ability to record 4K videos at 120 fps, resulting in smoother slow-motion videos. Besides these features, the Fold 7 also boasts a few AI-based tricks, including Generative Edit, Sketch to Image, Audio Eraser, and other features such as Portrait Studio, Live Effects, and Instant Slow-Mo.

Google’s Foldable Should Last Longer Between Charges

Google

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold draws its power from the 5,015 mAh battery that supports 30W wired and 15W magnetic Pixelsnap charging. In contrast, the Fold 7 sports a 4,400 mAh battery that supports 25W wired and 15W wireless charging (without native support for Qi2-certified or magnetic accessories). In day-to-day usage, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold should offer slightly better battery life than the Fold 7.

While both phones support WI-Fi 7 networks (with a compatible router), NFC, ultra-wideband (UWB), and a USB Type-C 3.2 port, the Pixel Fold features dual-band GPS (L1 + L5) and Bluetooth v6.0. Both phones support 5G networks (mmWave + Sub-6GHz) and satellite messaging (but connectivity depends on the carrier and the area).

Which Foldable Is Right for You?

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold offers brighter screens, a capable chipset, deep integration of the Gemini AI assistant (with a faster TPU), a camera setup that provides a higher optical zoom range, and a larger battery. On top of everything, the phone offers the cleanest Android experience. If those things are on your priority list, along with the IP68 rating, you can’t go wrong with the Pixel foldable.

However, if how the phone looks and feels in your hand matters, the Fold 7’s thinner and lighter chassis might appeal more to you. Additionally, the phone delivers improved peak performance and can run the most demanding video games at higher settings. A higher-resolution primary camera with support for 8K video recording might also appeal to certain buyers.

You could also base your decision on your current ecosystem. If you already have a lot of Google products at home, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold could be a better choice, and the same holds for Samsung devices and the Fold 7.

• 

  Brand

  Google

  SoC

  Google Tensor G5

  RAM

  16GB

  Storage

  256 GB / 512 GB/ 1TB with Zoned UFS

  Battery

  5015 mAh

  Operating System

  Android 16

  
  

• 

  Brand

  Samsung

  RAM

  12GB

  Storage

  256GB

  Battery

  4,400mAh

  Operating System

  One UI 8

  Connectivity

  5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

  
  

I’ve also compiled comparisons between the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the iPhone 17 Pro, the Galaxy S25 and the iPhone 17, and the Pixel 10 Pro vs. the Pixel 10 Pro XL, in case you want to check those out.