I’d pick a Z Fold 7 over a Pixel 10 Pro Fold, but not for the reason you think

Aside from some frustrating quirks, I couldn’t be happier with my Pixel 10 Pro and Google’s flavor of Android. After a long stint using Samsung phones and enjoying One UI, Google’s direction has been a welcome breath of fresh air, and there isn’t another phone on sale today that I’d rather use.

I wouldn’t say the same if I were a foldable phone user, though. When it comes to the ultra-expensive Pixel 10 Pro Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 7, I’d pick the Fold 7 in a heartbeat, but not for the reasons you might expect.

You might assume that the reason I’d pick the Z Fold 7 is the differences in hardware. The Fold 7 is significantly lighter and thinner than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, metrics that are more important when a phone’s thickness doubles when folded shut. The 200MP camera on the Fold 7 outshines the 48MP shooter on the 10 Pro Fold, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite can run circles around the Tensor G5.

Those are all valid reasons to prefer Samsung’s phone to Google’s, but based on hardware alone, I would still pick the Pixel. I like the style of photos from a Pixel camera, even when the hardware isn’t as good, and the same goes for the processor — the Tensor G5 does everything I want and need on a phone.

Cameras aside, the 10 Pro Fold shares much of its hardware with my Pixel 10 Pro, and that’s the phone I’ve always wanted Google to make. If the obviously lacking hardware isn’t what’s preventing me from buying a Pixel 10 Pro Fold, what is?

Software is more important on a foldable phone than on any other. A foldable needs to feel like a phone when it’s closed and a tablet when it’s open — the large inner screen has to justify its existence and give you a reason to want to use it. While One UI isn’t my favorite version of Android anymore, it has plenty of features I love, and that goes double for foldables. Samsung brings almost all the features built into its tablets to its folding phones, and it makes all the difference to me.

Split-screen apps have been a part of Android for a long time, but Samsung’s implementation is my favorite. On tablets and foldables, One UI lets you have three split apps at a time, whereas Google’s foldables and tablets limit you to two, just like a normal phone. Samsung then goes one step further with pop-up windows. You can open any app in a floating, resizable window. You can have up to five of these open at once, and it’s something I use constantly when I’m using a Samsung device, especially my foldable. It seems Google is working on a similar feature for Pixels, but there’s no way to know when it will be released.

Another feature of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and other Samsung foldables is Flex Mode Panel, which is triggered by a small on-screen button when you fold the phone into an “L” shape. It places whatever app you’re currently using into a window at the top half of the phone and fills the bottom half with useful device controls.

The touchpad is invaluable when you find yourself on a website that hasn’t been optimised for touch, which is worryingly common even in 2025. You can use this virtual trackpad the same as you would the touchpad on your laptop — mousing around the site, tapping with two fingers to right-click, and pinching and swiping with two fingers to zoom and scroll.

What I use more than that is the media controls. In any media app, from YouTube to Netflix, the bottom half of the display shows playback controls, making it the ideal way to watch media on your Z Fold 7.

Google does have a version of this called Tabletop mode, which shows media controls in YouTube and moves the camera UI to the bottom of the screen so you can take timelapse photos at night. That’s all it can do, though. Other media apps either place the video in the top half and leave the bottom blank, or ignore the hinge’s position entirely, leaving you with a video that’s curved down the middle. Google has limited a software feature I wouldn’t use a foldable without, while One UI gives you the freedom to find unique use cases that work for you.

Google has never been in a better position with the Pixel. In the first half of the year, the Pixel grew more than any other smartphone brand, and the Pixel 10 series is setting sales records for Google. People are talking about Pixels more than ever before, and Google should capitalize on that with its foldables. But until its software makes using a bigger screen worth it, there’s no reason to spend $1,800 on a Pixel 10 Pro Fold.

Do you feel the same way about Google’s approach to foldables? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.