Google’s Foldable vs. The Budget Challenger: The Google Pixel Fold has been heavily criticised for its poor build quality, with at least one review unit failing shortly after being sent to the publication. It is evident that the Pixel Fold is a first-generation device, and its numerous flaws make it difficult to recommend at $1,800. This prompts the question: how does Google’s foldable compare to the most affordable alternative, the approximately $700 less expensive Tecno Phantom V Fold? Despite this enormous price disparity, you may be pleasantly surprised by how well the Pixel Fold performs.
Google’s Foldable vs. The Budget Challenger: Specifications, availability, and cost
The Google Pixel Fold and the Phantom V Fold do not compete in any of their respective markets. The Pixel Fold is currently only available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany, whereas the Phantom V Fold is available in India and other South Asian nations. I continue to find it intriguing to pit the two devices against one another. Both phones have their flaws, but you’d expect one to have to make more concessions in order to reach its ultra-competitive price point of approximately $1,100.
Displays
The Google Pixel Fold and the Phantom V Fold are both book-style foldable smartphones. They have tiny, smartphone-like displays on the exterior and larger, tablet-like displays on the interior. However, differences are already apparent, and each takes a unique approach to this layout. The Phantom V has a narrower-than-usual 6.42-inch 21:9 outer display that unfolds to reveal a 7.85-inch portrait-oriented inner display, while the Pixel Fold has a shorter 5.8-inch 17.4:9 display that unfolds to a landscape 7.6-inch inner display. However, both outer displays are completely usable, with nothing feeling too cramped or narrow to hinder usability. Both of these approaches stand in stark contrast to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, which still employs an extremely narrow outer display that makes the exterior interface feel crowded.
When viewed side-by-side, it becomes apparent that both are essentially the same size, albeit in opposite orientations. As a result of Google’s decision to use a thinner and more sophisticated hinge mechanism, the Pixel Fold has much larger bezels around its interior display.
I’m beginning to believe that the form factor employed by the Phantom V Fold (as well as the Honour Magic Vs), with a smartphone-like exterior screen and a tall interior screen, is the optimal one in this case. The majority of the time I tested the Pixel Fold, I used the unfolded phone in a perpendicular orientation. It seems more natural to me to have a mobile device that is taller than it is wide, and many apps (and almost more importantly, websites) are created with this concept in mind, with interfaces typically designed to scroll from top to bottom. This is different on a large, roughly square tablet screen like the iPad, which I prefer to use in landscape orientation, but the Pixel Fold and Tecno Phantom V Fold are at best tiny tablets.
Google’s Foldable vs. The Budget Challenger: Design and construction rigour
The Pixel Fold appears and feels considerably more luxurious than the Phantom V Fold. It is constructed entirely of glass, with a frosted finish on the rear. Its hinge is made of stainless steel, while its frame and camera array are made of aluminium that has been polished. When held and utilised, it feels solid and sturdy, and there is no concern that it will shatter at any moment. In contrast, the Phantom V Fold has a cheap plastic back that tries ineffectively to simulate the sensation of leather, and even the crucial hinge is made of plastic.
In terms of build quality, both phones have shortcomings. The Pixel Fold does not fold completely flat, halting at approximately 178 degrees. Getting it even flatter requires a bit of force, leaving you with the uneasy sensation that you may break the phone. The Phantom V Fold’s hinge feels looser than I would like, with the two halves of the phone scraping against each other with an unsettling crunch when held in a folded position. This is even more concerning than the Pixel Fold’s hardware issues, and whenever it occurs, I feel genuinely uneasy.
The inner screen of the Phantom V Fold is one of the smoothest I’ve seen on a foldable phone (okay, the Oppo Find N 2 Flip is smoother). However, there is a steep price to pay for this design, as this phone does not support half-folded positions, unlike virtually all other foldable devices. That means you cannot use it in a laptop-like position for tabletop operation, where some applications, such as YouTube, divide the display into content on top and controls below. On other devices, this feature eliminates the need to hold the phone while viewing content or carry along a stand. The V Fold solves this problem by incorporating a case with a support. I must confess that I enjoyed using it with the case more than I did without it, but this is still a poor solution, not to mention the additional weight a case adds to any foldable device.
The Pixel Fold is also markedly thinner than the V Fold, with the Pixel Fold’s protruding camera array reaching the same thickness as the V Fold’s body without the lens. With its shortened form factor, the product feels both more compact and more upscale. The Phantom V Fold almost resembles two regular smartphones sandwiched together, whereas the Pixel Fold is a completely distinct animal. Even though I remain convinced that the form factor of the Honour Magic Vs and Phantom V Fold is the best for foldables, I appreciate using the Pixel Fold so much more due to its superior build quality.
Hardware and power supply
The Pixel Fold is powered by the Google Tensor G2 processor, whereas the Tecno Phantom V Fold is the first foldable to use a MediaTek chip, and to its credit, it utilises the 9000+. However, the silicon in both phones represents a slightly defective proposition. Each has the undesirable tendency to become excessively heated during use, with the Phantom V Fold being more susceptible than the Pixel Fold. That’s quite an accomplishment, given that the Tensor G2 processor in the Pixel Fold has a reputation for running unusually hot in other products. Twelve gigabytes of random-access memory (RAM) and either 256 or 512 gigabytes of storage space are the only other hardware differences between the two phones.
The Pixel Fold has a slightly smaller (4%) 4,821mAh battery that can be charged at a maximum of 30W, but it is one of the foldables that supports wireless charging as well. The Phantom V Fold counters this with a 5,000mAh battery that can accept up to 45W from its charger, but lacks wireless charging capability.
In the end, the Phantom V Fold triumphs in this category. The battery life has been phenomenal for me in everyday use, allowing me to make it through multiple full days of a vacation filled with navigation, photos, and more without it expiring before I returned to the hotel at night — even reaching five to six hours of screen-on time. It’s like night and day when compared to the Pixel Fold, which, to be fair, I haven’t put through as many tests as the Phantom V Fold. Using the Pixel Fold’s inner screen, you can observe the percentage decrease, and I’ve frequently ended days that should have been low-demand with even less battery remaining than when I was on vacation with the Phantom V Fold.
Google’s Foldable vs. The Budget Challenger: Software
Android 13 is installed on both the Google Pixel Fold and the Phantom V Fold, but the experiences could not be more dissimilar. Google’s Pixel Fold software feels significantly better assembled, beginning with the way it handles apps that do not typically support screen rotation. Instead of forcing you to transition to landscape or portrait when unfolded, it adds letterboxes to the left and right of apps that are incompatible with your preferred orientation.
Tecno’s software does not include a cutout for the front-facing camera, giving you more space but a more literal punch-hole sensation than on any other phone.
Overall, the Pixel Fold’s software feels significantly more refined. For starters, you have access to all the features that Google pioneered on previous Pixel phones, such as always-on music recognition, Hold for Me, and other phone features such as Call Screen, a dual-pane lock screen, and a notification shade that makes excellent use of the additional space. Perhaps more than anything else, the overall experience is less bug-ridden. Due to flaws such as the cutoff of the first notification in the notification shade by the punch-hole facial camera, Tecno’s user interface appears to be hastily assembled.
This holds true for system navigation as well. The Phantom V Fold has a harsher learning curve and a compromised feel. Unlike the Pixel Fold, you must use the back gesture at the left or right edge of the screen and hold to disclose a sidebar with pinned and recently used apps.
The Google Pixel Fold makes intelligent use of the extra capacity, at least when used in landscape mode.
I’m a big fan of how integrated and feature-rich the Pixel experience is, even if it lacks floating windows and a quicker method to enter split-screen. Overall, it’s significantly more user-friendly.
Security is an even greater issue with the Phantom V Fold. At the time of writing, it was still running the December 2022 security upgrade, which is something you do not want to see on a $1,000-plus smartphone. This also causes me to doubt Tecno’s long-term software support. In contrast, the Google Pixel Fold is among the first phones to receive both security patches and complete system updates with every new release, with Google promising three major Android upgrades and five years of security support.
Cameras
While the Google Pixel Fold functions similarly to the Pixel 7 Pro in terms of its camera experience, the Phantom V Fold feels more like a bargain phone. In environments with adequate illumination, it captures acceptable images; however, in low-light conditions, its performance rapidly degrades. It also lacks any form of optical magnification, meaning that you can likely only zoom in by a maximum of 2x before the image becomes blurry.
The Pixel Fold offers a comparable camera configuration to the Pixel 7 Pro, with the addition of a 5x zoom telephoto camera. When you have this camera and the company’s exceptional processing pipeline, you probably won’t miss your regular phone all that much.
