New leak suggests the Pixel Fold will be way cheaper than we thought

As always, right from the beginning, please take this sort of speculative rumor with a grain of salt. There’s nothing about this that is verified through Google and while I want it to be true with everything in me, there’s no reason outside of hope to believe that this is 100% accurate. However, if you can look at the following tweet from Yogesh Brar, a contributor to 91Mobiles (a site known to have connections with some pretty spot-on leaks over the years) and keep all of that level-headedness in mind, it could be a very exciting thing to think about.

Both the Pixel 7a and Pixel Fold will make their debut at Google I/O in May.

7a will be available in global markets by early Q3, while Fold will be launched in select regions

Pricing
Pixel Fold : $1300 – 1500
Pixel 7a : $450 – 500

— Yogesh Brar (@heyitsyogesh) March 15, 2023

While we all feel that the Pixel 7a will likely creep up to the $499 mark with all it is set to deliver, we’ve been operating with the expectation of $1799 on the Pixel Fold, making it a device that only the most ardent fans of foldable devices will be willing to shell out the money for. It’s a first-gen product from Google, so there’s no assurance on carrier-based deals, either, so the price tag it ends up with could be an all-or-nothing proposal for those looking to pick up a Pixel Fold later this year.

However, if the above tweet is accurate, we could be looking at a far cheaper foldable from Google, and it could be a device that wildly shakes up the large folding phone form factor here in the US for sure. With the build quality we’ve seen thus far, the Tensor 2 inside, and likely a very-capable camera hardware setup, the Pixel Fold could end up being the best value in large foldables when it launches here in the US.

This all lines up with earlier predictions that the Pixel Fold would vastly undercut the only other folding phone here in the US – the Galaxy Z Fold – and gives me a lot of hope that the Pixel Fold won’t arrive with a thud. At $1799, that’s a real liklihood. At something like $1399, however, I think a lot of potential Samsung Galaxy Z Fold customers might be swayed into switching sides.

I don’t think the Pixel Fold needs to sell millions of units to be a success for Google, but it would be nice if it does well. Samsung has plenty of foldable competition overseas, but here in the US they are basically the only player in the folding phone game. If Google can deliver a great folding phone experience on a smaller budget, I think they’ll have a winner on their hands. Hopefully we finally see the Pixel Fold at Google I/O 2023, only a bit over 7 weeks away now.