Google Announce Pixel Fold and Pixel 7a at I/O 2023

Google has introduced two new Pixel branded smartphones – the Pixel Fold and Pixel 7a. The Fold is the first foldable smartphone released under the Pixel brand while the 7a is an affordable version of the Google Pixel 7/Pixel 7 Pro smartphones released around late 2022. Both smartphones are powered by Google Tensor G2 chip, the same processor powering the Google Pixel Tablet, and share the Titan M2 security chip with a number of Google Pixel products.

Google Pixel Fold

The Pixel Fold has a 7.6-inch FHD+ OLED display (when open), stainless steel hinge, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus (cover and back), and 5.8-inch OLED display (when closed). It has a triple rear camera system – 10.8MP (f/2.2, 121.1o FOV) + 48MP (f/1.7, 82o FOV, OIS + CLAF) + 10.8MP (f/3.05, 21.9o FOV, 5x Zoom) telephoto; 9.5MP (f/2.2, 84o FOV) front camera and 8MP (f/2.0, 84o FOV) inner camera.

The rest of the specs include IPX8 rating, Titan M2 chip, Fingerprint and Face unlock, 12GB of RAM, 256GB/512GB built-in storage, Wi-Fi 6E, Ultra-Wideband chip, Qi-certified wireless charging, and 4,821mAh battery capacity, which lasts up to 72 hours with Extreme Battery Saver. It comes pre-loaded with Android 14 OS and software-based features such as Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, Portrait Light, Portrait mode, Dual Screen interpreter mode, split screen, and VPN by Google One.

The Pixel Fold is priced starting at US$ 1799 ($74.96/month for 24 months) and Google is offering a Pixel Watch as an incentive for a limited time. It will arrive in Obsidian and Porcelain colours for the US, UK, Japan, and Germany markets.

Google Pixel 7a

The latest A-series smartphone has a smaller 6.1-inch FHD+ OLED display with 90Hz refresh rate, a few inches smaller than the Pixel 7 (6.3-inch). It is fitted with a dual camera system with 64MP (f/1.89, 80o FOV) wide + 13MP (f/2.2, 120o FOV) ultrawide lenses; and 13MP (f/2.2, 95o FOV) front camera. Power is supplied by a 4,385 mAh battery with Qi-certified wireless charging and up to 18W fast charging.

The Pixel 7a is available in a single memory configuration – 8GB RAM + 128GB built-in storage; and share software-based feature such as Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, and VPN by Google One with the Pixel Fold. It is priced at US$ 499 ($20.79/month for 24 months); and arrives in and Sea, Charcoal, Snow and Coral (online only).

Google Pixel Tablet

The Pixel Tablet was previewed alongside the Pixel Watch and Pixel 7/7 Pro smartphones; however, there was barely any information on functionality. The company has finally lifted the lid on the product with another reveal at the Google I/O 2023. The premium tablet has an 11-inch LCD touchscreen display with stylus pen support, 4x built-in speakers, and a charging speaker dock with pogo pin connection.

The charging speaker dock, which happens to be a highlight feature, has 4x more bass than the tablet alone and there is a Hub mode for using the tablet in hands-free mode and as a smart home controller. It comes with Chromecast built-in, Google TV app and over 50 Google apps including Google Meet has been optimized for the tablet. It comes bundled with the speaker dock in Porcelain, Hazel, and Rose colours. Pricing starts at US$ 499/AU$ 899 for the base model.