Google is fast approaching the launch of its new Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and ongoing leaks only confirm that this upcoming device looks almost exactly like last year’s OnePlus Open.
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The Pixel 9 Pro Fold — a terrible name for what should simply be “Pixel Fold 2” — is set to be announced alongside Google’s other new flagships at an event on August 13. The redesigned foldable device has a drastically different design from the original Pixel. Fold, ditch the short and wide aspect ratio of the outer display and super-wide inner display for a more “traditional” design that’s closer to other book-style folding devices on the market.
But the more we see of it, the more it has to do with the OnePlus Open.
Fresh leaks of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold this week show a foldable device that has an outer display that’s wider than the Galaxy Z Fold 6, and also offers the first look at an inner display that appears to have way less noticeable fold in the middle. It looks cool, but also super familiar.
Starting on the outside, the parts of the device where the glass meets the hinge have the curvature of the glass in line with the opposite side and meet a piece of metal that lines up with the flat edge of the hinge. This also leads to the front display, which has a not small but prominent bezel.
Inside, the display itself has uniform bezels and a raised black piece of plastic for protection. The selfie camera is located in the upper right corner.
All these design features are virtually identical to those of the OnePlus Open. All folding cabinets tend to share certain parts of their design, but the similarities here are uncanny.
This is not the first time that Google’s foldable device bears a striking resemblance to Oppo’s design. The original Pixel Fold has a pretty unique look and feel, but as we pointed out, the shape and aspect ratio were remarkably similar to Oppo’s first two Find N foldable devices.
It’s hard to imagine that Oppo is involved in Google design and/or manufacturing somewhere. That’s not very likely, and there’s no evidence to suggest that’s the case, but it’s an idea I can’t get out of my head when I keep seeing more features of Oppo’s foldable devices popping up on Google.
And none of this is to say that this is a bad move on Google’s part. As far as I’m concerned, the OnePlus Open is the gold standard for foldable devices, at least in the US. If the Pixel’s hardware can even remotely match that, we’re in for a good time.
This week’s top news
Android 15 is all set and ready…
This week, Google released the fourth a probably the latest beta update of Android 15. Beta 4 doesn’t really bring any user-related changes, but mainly focuses on bug fixes. In theory, this means the update will be ready for the Pixel 9 launch next month.
Look, it’s the Pixel 9 again
As if you couldn’t have guessed, there have been more Pixel 9 leaks this week. This includes several hands-on videos and an official design reveal from Google itself.
Galaxy Z Fold 6 review
This week we also published our review of the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. And… is it okay? It’s a really good folding machine, but it doesn’t hold up very well against the still fantastic competition.
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