Trusted leaker says a foldable Pixel (‘Passport’) is still set to arrive in 2021

With all the hype surrounding Google’s upcoming phones – the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro – it’s easy to basically forget about the other hardware that has been leaked, teased and talked about in the past few months that is supposed to launch alongside the duo of new handsets. While I’m extremely excited for my scheduled return to the world of Google phones (I’ve been a OnePlus guy for a little while, now), I haven’t forgotten about my folding Pixel hopes, and this latest tidbit of info has me as excited as any I’ve heard so far.

We’ve talked about him before, but Evan Blass is one of the originators of leak culture in the tech industry. Put simply, he was leaking info before leaking tech stuff was cool. While he, like other leakers, does miss from time to time, he is quite accurate when you look at his track record as a whole. So, when he decides to weigh in on a topic, there’s likely some truth to it. And that’s exactly what he did early this morning.

Heard from someone I trust that the foldable Pixel — codename: Passport, retail branding: unknown — will indeed launch before the end of the year. Apparently they've been working on this device for over two years, and if the P6 is any indication, it'll be worth a look.

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) September 20, 2021

Now, this isn’t indicating that Mr. Blass has actually seen this phone or evidence of its existence firsthand, but there’s no doubt that if he’s willing to post this on Twitter, he implicitly trusts this particular source. And, if this source is correct, we could indeed be looking at a folding Pixel device from Google before the end of 2021. As always, this is a rumor/leak, so take appropriate skepticism into consideration, here.

For Google’s part, if this is true, they’ve done a fantastic job of keeping the lid on this device. For a company that is prone to leaks, perhaps getting in front of the Pixel 6 launch a bit has kept the heat off of their other devices. Apart from the early leaks, we’ve heard nothing of the Pixel watch, either, and that means it’s one of two things: delayed or simply flying under the radar.

My guess is, we’ll see the full details of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro in a few weeks at Google’s hardware event and perhaps a sneak peek at the folding Pixel with a ‘coming soon’ setup for the release date. Folding phones aren’t for everyone and being Google’s first attempt, I don’t think the folding Pixel will be without issues. Google has what looks to be two impressive phones ready to share with the world and that seems to be enough to get everyone excited. For the folding Pixel, they simply need to say it exists and maybe tease it a bit at the event and that would be enough. It’s looking more and more likely that could be the case. We’ll know soon enough, right?