Opinion: I Take It Back, Maybe Hold Off on Buying Pixel Fold?

One month ago, I was young and naive. I thought I had all of the answers. Over the past month, I’ve done a lot of maturing and have come to realize that buying first-gen products can and sometimes do come with a risk. As we’re seeing with the first-generation Pixel Fold, a number of excited buyers are quickly turning disappointed due to hardware issues. I can’t help but think this might partially be my fault.

Let’s be clear, what’s happening with Pixel Fold units is not an epidemic. As far as we know, a relatively small number of people are having issues with displays busting, possibly due to a design flaw, but again, we can’t say how widespread the issue is. As always, if you look hard enough, you’ll always find people with problems. Does it always seem to be Pixel brand devices more so than others? It feels like that sometimes, but they are a very outspoken bunch.

Arstechnica’s busted Pixel Fold after 4 days of light usage.

Last month, my argument for convincing people to buy the Pixel Fold was simple. While this is technically Google’s first foldable, it’s not as if they aren’t looking to what others have done to be successful in the space, such as Samsung and OPPO. This also isn’t Google’s first device, obviously, with years of consumer hardware experience now under their belts. It seemed like a safe bet for Google to release a solid first-gen foldable.

I would say reviews have been mixed, but looking more deeply, none of the major ones are overly positive on the device. They all seem to share the same durability concerns, which is a red flag when we’re talking about foldables, plus every time I see a photo of the main display’s crease and bezels, the more unattractive it seems to get. In the design department, it’s reminiscent of the first-fen Galaxy Fold, which isn’t a good thing.

Should you probably go ahead and skip the Pixel Fold? Yeah, I think so, but given my optimistic nature, do I think Google can rebound in 2024 and release a kick-ass Pixel Fold 2? Most definitely.