CNBC says the Pixel Fold will launch in June for $1,700+ – Ars Technica

Will the Pixel Fold ever exist? There is a growing chorus of rumor mill saying that Google’s first foldable phone will be launched at Google I/O in May. Latest rumor from Jennifer Elias from CNBC, who said the device would be announced at I/O and go on sale sometime in June, priced “over $1,700.” that Previous report WinFuture also linked the Pixel Fold with a June release date.

The report is based on internal photos and documents seen by CNBC, and details many of the specs we’ve seen in previous rumors: There’s a 7.6-inch internal display, a 5.8-inch external display, and Google’s Tensor G2 chip. The phone is said to weigh 10 ounces, or 283 grams, which is heavier than the Galaxy Fold 4. One surprising feature is water resistance, which no foldable vendor other than Samsung has attempted.

The report quotes an internal document that says the phone has “the most durable hinge in a foldable”. Durability is the primary issue with foldable devices, but most of the concerns focus on the screen, so focusing on the hinge would be an interesting marketing strategy. Even Samsung, which is operating in its fourth generation of these devices, I can not Stop the offer from death Right along the screen crease. However, there are complaints about the hinges. At any time, the Galaxy Fold front page subreddit About 50 percent of complaints are about broken displays and 10 percent are about broken hinges.

OnLeaks He gave a demonstration of the device in December, and it included some interesting details. The display has the camera strip design motif from previous Pixels, of course, though it’s been tweaked slightly to not go edge-to-edge on the back of the phone. To the left of the camera stick was a noticeable set of holes of unknown purpose. It appears to be part of a speaker network, but that would be an odd location for a speaker, and the accompanying report has the speaker locations in plain sight. There’s usually one hole near the rear camera assembly for the microphone, but that should be it One hole – that’s 19. why?

The other interesting thing about OnLeaks is the return of our old friend Edge Screen. The inside of the foldable device features large empty spaces above and below the screen. The top houses the internal camera, and the rest of the frame seems to be taking up space. Samsung’s regular design would include a punch-hole camera and a much better internal display.

The Pixel Fold has been rumored for years, with several different models referenced in the Android code but it never saw the light of day. Google isn’t generally terrible at keeping its hardware under wraps; It’s not uncommon to see detailed hands-on posts for unreleased initial Pixel devices left at a bar, up for sale on eBay, or “borrowed, borrowed from a test facility. We haven’t seen a single shot of the Pixel Fold in real life, while images of the other Google I/O devices, the Pixel 7a and Pixel Tablet, have leaked several times. If the June release date really is, we’d expect someone to start snapping pictures any day now.