How the newest foldable phones stack up

Last month, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 was released and immediately became the de facto king of the foldable phone hill. But now a new challenger has arrived: The Pixel 10 Pro Fold. The full details are now available in the wake of Google’s splashy launch event, which debuted the Fold alongside the full new Pixel 10 line, a new Pixel smartwatch and two new earbuds, too (see everything Google announced). But the Pixel 10 Pro Fold was the star of the show, and it’s vying with the Z Fold 7 for the title of best foldable — both offer very similar designs, but each bringing something unique to the table.

Samsung launched its first foldable phone in 2019, so it’s had quite a bit of time to refine the Galaxy Fold over the years. Google on the other hand just released its first Pixel Fold a couple years ago — but has already largely evened the match. And, of course, with enhanced Gemini AI software integration front and center, you’ll have access to Google’s impressive artificial intelligence features at nearly every turn.

We’ll break down how the Pixel 10 Pro Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 7 stack up to one another. You can also check out our comparison of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the Galaxy Fold 6 to see how much has changed in a year.

Price

First things first, how much will one of these high-tech folding phones cost you? That is the make-or-break question, after all. The newest Pixel foldable is still less expensive than this year’s Z Fold: it starts at $1,799 while the Galaxy smartphone starts at $2,000.

You don’t have any other real choices for “book-style” foldables in the US market. The OnePlus Open can be had for $1,499, but it’s almost two years old. And Apple’s most expensive phone is currently the $1,599 1TB iPhone 16 Pro Max — but as a non-foldable model with just a single screen, it’s hardly a straight comparison. If the rumor mill is to be believed, Apple may finally bow a foldable iPhone in 2026.

Dimensions and display

It’s a race for the largest display and Samsung won this time — but not by much. The Galaxy Z Fold is just a hair bigger than the Pixel Pro Fold. Both phones’ inner displays are 8 inches across when fully opened, while Samsung comes out ahead on the outer display with 6.5 inches (the Pixel is 6.4 inches).

As for height, the new foldable Pixel phone is 6.1 inches and the Galaxy Z is 6.2 inches — not a huge difference there. When unfolded, the Samsung wins on size efficiency, packing the identically sized 8-inch internal display into an area that’s 0.3 inches smaller — 5.6 inches versus the Pixel’s 5.9.

This year, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s displays have been upgraded to a Super Actua Flex OLED display with ultra-thin glass. Both the front screen and back cover come equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

As for the Galaxy Z Fold 7, it has a Dynamic AMOLED display (inner and outer) and comes with the Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the front and the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the backside. The glass is ultra-thin, yet it’s 50 percent thicker than before.

While slightly bigger, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is still lighter than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. The Samsung model weighs only 7.6 ounces — down nearly an ounce from its 2024 model — while its Google competition comes in at 9.1 ounces (the same as last year’s model).

Processor, RAM, storage and battery

The Pixel 10 Fold Pro runs the Tensor G5 chip — Google says its CPU features 34 percent better performance compared to the Tensor G4 chip.

The Z Fold 7 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. “Everything feels fast and snappy,” Engadget’s Sam Rutherford said of the Snapdragon 8 Elite performance on the Z Fold 7. (Sam also has first impressions of the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, but speed tests will happen a bit later.)

Both phones offer the choice of 256GB, 512GB or 1TB storage. On the RAM front, the Pixel Fold delivers 16GB across the line, while the Samsung model reserves that level for the top 1TB storage tier; the small models get 12GB instead. The Galaxy phone will cost you $2,419 if you decide you need the maximum amount of storage, whereas the Pixel Fold tops out at $2,149.

When it comes to battery life, Samsung’s foldable lasts up to 24 hours with a 4,400mAh battery. The Pixel lasts up to 30 hours thanks to a more capacious 5,015mAh battery rating. Furthermore, the Pixel Fold is certified for Qi2 wireless charging, which Google is branding as “Pixelsnap” across its 2025 Pixel line for the first time.

Cameras

For many shoppers, a phone is only as good as its cameras, and both of these phones bring a strong lens game. Each has three rear cameras, though they’re different aesthetically. You’ll notice the Pixel has a larger camera bump with two rows, while the Galaxy has a thinner vertical line of cameras.

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s rear camera array consists of a 48MP wide sensor, a 10.5MP ultrawide and a 10.8MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom. All three offer “Super Res Zoom” up to 20x with optical and electronic image stabilization. Per our own Sam Rutherford, the potential drawback here is that Google played it safe: “The biggest potential shortcoming of the P10PF is that its camera hardware is largely staying the same. Granted, that’s not a huge deal because the previous model had the best photo quality of any foldable phone.”

By comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Fold 7 rear camera trio includes the same 200MP wide-angle camera as the company’s Galaxy S25 Ultra, but carries over the 12MP ultrawide and 10MP telephone from the Z Fold 6. Zoom levels are 3x optical and 30x digital.

While we have yet to put the Pixel 10 Pro Fold cameras through their paces, Sam was still liking last year’s Pixel Fold versus the Galaxy Z Fold 7 when he reviewed the latter: “At night, the Fold 7’s shots remained surprisingly sharp. I still prefer the Pixel 9 Pro Fold due to its more accurate white balance and often sharper focus, though Samsung’s phone isn’t far behind.” And the entire Pixel line’s cameras are (of course) supercharged with some new Google Gemini AI niceties, like the Camera Coach feature that enables voice-controlled photo editing.

Both the Pixel and Galaxy offer similar 10MP specs on their front and inner selfie cameras.

Color options

If you like having multiple colors to choose from, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is winning in this category. It comes in Mint, Jetblack, Blue Shadow and Silver Shadow. Mint is only available if you buy your phone online — you won’t be seeing that one in stores.

As for the Pixel 10 Fold Pro, your options are Moonstone and Jade.

Full specs comparison

Updated August 21, 2:26PM ET: Added a section comparing the cameras on both phones.