Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google recently updated Android to support splitting apps into left and right panes.
- This feature supports “portrait folding devices” like the upcoming Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
- We’ve spotted a code that not only suggests the feature is being tested on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, but also reveals the foldable device’s screen resolution.
Although the small screens of most Android smartphones aren’t really conducive to multitasking, there are still times when you might want to have multiple application windows displayed. That’s why Google introduced split-screen multitasking in late 2016 with Android 7.0 Nougat.
Android’s split-screen mode allows you to place two apps side by side, in either a left-to-right or top-to-bottom configuration, depending on the orientation. For example, if your phone is in portrait mode, then Android assumes that you can only place two apps in a top-down configuration. This assumption holds true for the vast majority of Android smartphones on the market, but it doesn’t work for some foldable phones with near-square aspect ratios. Thankfully, Google has quietly updated Android’s split-screen mode to allow apps to be split between the left and right sides even when the device is in portrait mode, presumably in preparation for the launch of its own Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
With the release of Android 14 QPR2 in March, Google implemented code to add support for left-right split on “portrait-foldable devices”. While these patches don’t specifically say that this feature is for the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, it’s pretty clear that it is. Almost all rumors point to the Pixel 9 Pro Fold having an almost square aspect ratio. Leaked images and renders strongly suggest that this is the case.
What’s more, search through AOSP where config_leftRightSplitInPortrait is defined reveals something surprising: A “goldfish” configuration for pixel_fold2 i.e. Pixel Fold 2, which is what everyone assumed would be the name of Google’s second-generation foldable phone. When developing Android applications, “goldfish” is one of the targets for which platform developers can compile AOSP builds. Specifically, goldfish builds are designed to run in the Android Studio emulator. Goldfish configurations essentially help developers mimic the display settings and system configurations of the physical hardware they’re testing apps for, which in this case is the Pixel Fold 2 (which will almost certainly launch as the Pixel 9 Pro Fold).
Given what we know about the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, it’s no surprise config_leftRightSplitInPortrait will be set to “true” on the device. If this were not the case, users would not be able to split apps from left to right in the phone’s default portrait orientation as shown below.
Another potentially interesting finding from the goldfish configuration for the Pixel Fold 2 is the display resolution. of config_display_features we can deduce that the resolution of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold display will be 2076 x 2152 in the default portrait orientation. Because, config_leftRightSplitInPortrait must be set to true for the device to support left-right split-screen multitasking in portrait orientation.
The left-to-right split in portrait mode isn’t the only recent improvement Google has made to split-screen mode. In Android 15, the company finally added the ability to save pairs of split-screen apps to the home screen. And with work on Android’s desktop mode redesign, Google has greatly improved the app’s free window, something that’s a huge boon for larger-screen devices like foldable, book-style devices and tablets.
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is set to be announced at the upcoming Made by Google 2024 hardware event on August 13, so we’ll have to wait and see if Google has any more multitasking improvements up its sleeve.