The next Google Pixel Fold might not be what you expect

Google entered the foldable phones market for the first time last year and is expected to follow up its debut in the coming months.

However, even at this early stage it might be planning to change how it brands the next Pixel Fold phone.

According to Android Authority, an insider at Google has revealed the Pixel Fold 2 will be called the Pixel 9 Pro Fold instead, making it more explicitly part of the annual Pixel lineup.

This marks an immediate change, since the first Pixel Fold launched between the arrival of the Pixel 7 and Pixel 8 phones, and quickly had an older chip than the Pixel 8 by virtue of having come with the Tensor G2. 

Now though, it seems Google will tidy things up a bit, and skip its next folding phone past the G3 chip onto the G4, which will also sit inside the rest of the non-folding Pixel 9s. 

That's a smart play whichever way you look at it, since it would immediately have raised eyebrows if the Pixel 9 Pro Fold arrived with a chip that was already half a year old. 

It also guarantees that whatever new features Google unlocks with the extra power of the G4 chip should be present and correct on its flagship folding phone, as you'd hope given its likely premium price. 

Another unknown now, though, crops up around when the phone will be announced - this change in the plan on branding makes it seem more likely that it'll be unveiled alongside all the other Pixel phones coming, in the autumn of this year. 

If so, that would make for a pretty significant wave of phones in one go from Google, likely comprised of the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro Fold. 

Given the first Pixel Fold is coming up on a year since it was announced at Google I/O in early May 2023, we'll probably be able to get a hint about whether these expectations are on the money at this year's event.

One likely scenario, given how Google has done things in the last few years, is that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold gets announced, but not in full detail, and that we then have to wait a few months for it to be fully unveiled alongside the rest of the Pixel 9 lineup.