An intriguing spec rumour for the Pixel Fold 2 could have ramifications for its release window, with a delay looking likely.
According to an anonymous source of Android Authority’s, Google’s second foldable phone will skip the Tensor G3 chip that currently powers the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. Instead, it will jump straight to the next-generation Tensor G4 that’s expected to power the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro.
Apparently, while early Pixel Fold 2 prototypes have indeed been powered by the current Tensor G3, more recent units have moved to the newer and more powerful processor.
If it turns out that the final product runs on the newer chip, this would quite likely mean a significant delay to the release date. The original Pixel Fold was announced at Google I/O in May 2023, with a rollout in June, which would lead you to expect a similar launch window for the follow-up.
However, it seems highly unlikely that Google would launch its next processor a mere six months after the last one. It tends to make such hardware announcements in the autumn.
This would suggest that the Pixel Fold 2 is likely to launch alongside the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro in October.
With Google still only at the beginning of the Engineering Validation Test (EVT) phase with the Pixel Fold 2, there are several hardware iterations left to come before it’s ready for mass production. This would also suggest that a later release might be on the cards.
As for the Tensor G4 itself, it’s been claimed that this Samsung-fabricated chip will only provide a modest bump in performance over the Tensor G3. Given that the latter wasn’t exactly competitive with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 – let alone the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 – itself, we’re not expecting blazing performance.
More promising are suggestions that the Pixel Fold 2 will pack a generous 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, up from 12GB in the original Pixel Fold, in preparation for Google’s rumoured ‘Pixie’ AI assistant. The new foldable should also sport faster UFS 4.0 storage.
