Pixel 9 Pro Fold leak confirms a portrait interior screen

We’re inside of a month away from Google’s next Pixel hardware even set for August 13th in California, and as is the case most times with new Google hardware, leaks have been plentiful. We’ve seen the Pixel 9 lineup from nearly every conceivable angle, but the new folding phone in the family hasn’t been quite as forthcoming.

However, a new leak not only shows the Pixel 9 Pro Fold in clear photos: it shows off the exact measurements as well. And with these measurements comes a particular revelation of interest to me: a portrait-default interior screen. But only just so.

The leak comes to us via Android Authority and the NCC (Taiwan’s National Communications Commission) and it gives us a very clear look at the Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s hardware on both the inside and the outside.

Portrait on the inside

The first thing I looked for in these images was the size and orientation of the inner screen. The reasoning is simple: the first edition of the Pixel Fold had a screen that opened up to a default landscape view. While this is nice for some things, I found that the gyroscope used in many games was off-kilter in the Pixel Fold due to the fact that the inner and outer screens didn’t match orientations.

Think of it this way: when closed up, holding the device in a portrait orientation, the gyroscope considers the top of the phone as “up”. When I rotate it on its side, the longer edge facing up now becomes the new “up”. Say I’m playing PUBG on the outer screen (in landscape, obviously) and open the Pixel Fold from there. It would be in portrait mode until I turned it 90 degrees to the left or right. Now I’m 90 degrees off from what the outer display would consider “up”.

With a device that opens from portrait orientation on the outside directly to a portrait orientation on the inside, this isn’t a problem. There’s not one game where this is an issue on the Galaxy Z Fold 5, and I guarantee the fact that the device opens up to match the outer orientation is the reason things just work better.

Looking at the measurements in the leaked photos above, it is clear to see that the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, when opened, will be ever so slightly taller than it is wide. This should fix the gyro issues in games and also provide a more consistent experience across the board. I find that I like opening the Z Fold 5 and keeping the orientation I started with versus being immediately swapped to a landscape setup. And overall, this is going to be a big win for the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

Additionally, this will also make the closed-up phone a bit smaller in the pocket as well. While nowhere near the slimness of the Galaxy Z Fold, this slight narrowing of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold should make it far more pocketable.

A decreased crease

While the physical size and layout is the most important thing to me on this new version of Google’s folding phone, I’m also very impressed with the minimal crease we’re seeing in these photos as well. The original Pixel Fold had a pretty sizeable dent down the middle, and the photos we’re seeing here seem to indicate that Google’s has put in the work to drastically decrease that in the 9 Pro Fold.

Leaks and speculation are fun, aren’t they? All these things will be completely laid out for all to see very soon as we only have about three and a half weeks before the event. I know we’re all looking very forward to seeing all Google has made this time around, and the wait is nearly over.