Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 vs. Google Pixel Fold: Which foldable phone is best?

This article is part of our series?Battle of the Brands, in which we compare category-leading products to their counterparts to determine which are actually worth your money.

The idea of a foldable smartphone once felt like a gimmick or fad, but over the last few years, Samsung’s continued to innovate and iterate its foldable lineup. That persistence has paid off, for Samsung and consumers alike, with more companies like Motorola and Google now offering foldables of their own.

Samsung’s latest tablet-like foldable, the $1,800 Galaxy Z Fold 5 is one of the best foldable phone money can buy, if not thebest. But for some, the Google Pixel Fold is sure to make the decision between Samsung’s Z Fold 5 or Google’s first foldable phone a tough one.

I’ve used both devices, and I have to say, they’re both great. And while there are many similarities between the two, there are also some key differences worth knowing about.

Note: Samsung just launched the new and improved Galaxy Z Fold 6, which we’ve gone hands-on with. We’ll be giving it the full review treatment soon to see how it stacks up to Google’s foldable.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 vs. Google Pixel Fold at a glance

Quick comparison

Contrasting approaches in designs

When you place the Z Fold 5 next to the Pixel Fold, it’s very apparent the two devices are different. Yes, they’re foldables that open to reveal a larger tablet-like screen on the inside, but the core design of each phone leads to a contrasting experience that will shape how you use the foldable.

The Z Fold 5 is Samsung’s fifth-generation take on a foldable, and the overall design hasn’t changed all that much. The front display, or Cover Screen as Samsung likes to call it, is a narrow but tall 6.2 inches. The inner screen measures 7.6 inches.

The Pixel Fold’s front screen — it doesn’t have a special name — measures 5.8 inches, and is short and wide. The internal screen is 7.6 inches, like the Z Fold 5’s, but it’s wider than it is tall, giving you a widescreen-like look and feel.

There are benefits and drawbacks to both approaches. With the Z Fold 5, most of my time is spent using the internal screen. I find the cover screen is far too narrow for a comfortable typing experience. The keys are too close together and very small. I can’t recall ever writing out a long message on any Z Fold model’s cover screen, but it’s something I comfortably do multiple times a day on the Pixel Fold, which feels more like a traditional smartphone when it’s folded up.

The internal screen of the Z Fold 5, however, has a similar look and feel to having two regular smartphones, side by side. That is, it’s taller than it is wide. In fact, if you turn the Z Fold 5 sideways, the Pixel and Z Fold 5 look nearly identical.

Some will find the Z Fold 5’s form factor more familiar and easier to use. It’s not as wide as the Pixel, so it’s easier to reach the middle of the screen with your thumbs but harder to reach the top of the screen.

With the wider Pixel Fold, it’s easier to reach the top of the screen, but you might have to make more of a stretch to reach the middle of the screen.

A side effect of the different designs is that not all apps are optimized or properly formatted for the Pixel Fold’s unique internal display. Instead, you see a smaller version of apps like Instagram, and it doesn’t look the best. Meanwhile, every app I’ve used on the Z Fold 5 has taken up the entire display.

Personally, I prefer the Pixel Fold’s design, app compatibility be damned. Plus, it’s easier for me to type on both the outside and inside screens. The Z Fold 5’s screens are too tall for me and often feel like I have to manage how I hold it to ensure I can reach the entire screen.

Overall, the front display of the Z Fold 5 is very narrow, leading to a cramped typing experience. The Pixel Fold is more comfortable and easier to use, but it suffers from app formatting issues.

Same software, different features

Both phones run Android 13 as the underlying operating system, but Samsung and Google have each applied their own tweaks and customizations to the software experience.

For the Z Fold 5, that means you get Samsung’s One UI 5.1.1 out of the box. Samsung’s been ridiculed over the years for taking a heavy hand with One UI and adding Samsung-branded apps that duplicate Google’s own apps. This includes the Samsung Internet and Google Chrome browsers, or Samsung Messages and Google Messages, either of which can be used for text messaging.

Google takes a lighter hand than Samsung when it comes to software tweaks. And in a lot of ways, Google does more with less. For instance, the Phone app offers extra features you can’t get on non-Pixel phones. These include Call Screen to screen incoming calls, Hold for Me to wait on hold when you call a business or Direct My Call, which shows you the call tree options on your phone’s screen whenever you’re calling a customer service center. On top of getting access to some of Google’s fancier features, Pixel phones receive monthly security and feature updates, quarterly Pixel feature drops with new features and are the first phones to receive major Android updates.

There are benefits, however, to Samsung’s heavy-handed approach. For instance, the Z Fold 5 doesn’t suffer from the same app compatibility issues that Google’s Pixel Fold does. It’s not that apps don’t run on the Pixel, but instead, apps that haven’t been optimized for the Pixel’s wider display show up with black bars on either side, forgoing a full-screen experience. Google has worked with some app developers to update their apps, but there are many, many apps that aren’t optimized.

The taskbar is another area where the two devices diverge. The taskbar on the Z Fold 5 is smaller and always visible, similar to what you’d see on a Mac or PC. You can have up to eight pinned apps in the taskbar, and then there’s a section of recent apps that will show up to four more apps, giving you access to a total of 12 apps in the taskbar whenever you’re using the inner display.

On the Pixel Fold, however, the taskbar is comparatively massive. It doesn’t stay docked at the bottom of the screen; instead, you have to swipe up from the bottom of the display to pull it up. It has enough room for six apps.

With the Z Fold 5, you can have up to four apps on the screen at the same time: three apps in some form of split-screen arrangement, along with another app as a pop-up window.

With the Pixel Fold, you can have two apps in split-screen at the same time, and that’s it. You can resize the apps on your screen, allowing one to take up 3/4 of the screen while the other takes up the leftover 1/4.

Additionally, the Z Fold 5 supports stylus input via an optional S Pen. The Pixel Fold lacks stylus support.

After using the Pixel Fold for a month, followed right up by using the Z Fold 5 for a couple of weeks, I realized just how much nicer it is to have apps that take up the full internal display. On top of that, the additional multitasking features, not all of which I use that often, are a nice option to have. That said, Google’s light-handed approach and totally customizing Android combined with its Pixel-specific features are something I can’t quit coming back to.

There are fundamental differences in the software experience on both devices. Samsung’s is better for those who want to multitask heavily, while Google’s takes a light-handed approach that’s full of small features that many find delightful. It all comes down to personal preference.

Performance and battery life

One of the biggest updates Samsung made to the Z Fold 5 over its predecessor was adding the same chip used in the Galaxy S23 series and new Galaxy Tab S9 lineup in the form of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. It’s an overclocked processor that Samsung worked with Qualcomm to customize for its products. Also powering the Z Fold 5 is 12GB of memory and 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage, the latter of which is a Samsung.com exclusive.

Google’s Pixel Fold uses the company’s second-generation Tensor G2 processor which is also found in the Pixel Tablet and the Pixel 7 lineup. The Pixel Fold also has 12GB of memory and storage options of 256GB or 512GB.

If you compare their benchmark scores for both performance and battery life, the Z Fold 5 is the clear winner across the board. It’s not even close. Here, take a look yourself:

The battery life scores alone (which we measured by playing a 4K video on a loop) is enough to scare someone away from the Pixel Fold. An extra four hours of battery life? I’m all for it.

But in real-world use, I haven’t experienced that big of a discrepancy in battery life. I have no issues with either phone getting through a typical day, which consists of mixed screen usage and lots of multitasking.

The same goes for the difference in performance scores. The Z Fold 5 appears to be a much faster device, but in practice, I don’t feel like the Pixel Fold struggles with any of the apps used or tasks I put it through.

I feel confident using either device to stream a movie on a flight and still have battery life leftover and enough performance to handle messaging coworkers and family, triaging my inbox, scrolling through Reddit or Chrome and even using multiple apps at the same time without any hiccups.

The Z Fold 5 and Pixel Fold have very different benchmark scores, with Samsung’s foldable easily besting Google’s on paper. However, in daily use, each phone is just as capable as the other in performance and battery life.

Picture quality matters

Samsung has always treated the cameras on its foldable phones as second-class citizens compared to its flagship S-series phones. And that hasn’t changed with the Z Fold 5, with Samsung opting to use the same camera setup that the Z Fold 4 featured.

There’s a triple camera setup on the back of the phone and two front-facing cameras, one for each display.

The rear cameras are made up of a 50-megapixel main, a 12-megapixel ultrawide and a 10-megapixel telephoto with 3x optical zoom. The cover screen has a 10-megapixel camera, while the internal screen has a 4-megapixel under-display camera.

The camera on the Z Fold 5 is good, and at times, it can be great. But it’s been hit or miss in my use so far. Pictures often look either under or overexposed, and the saturation hasn’t quite been up to Samsung’s usual levels.

Google’s Pixel Fold has a similar camera arrangement, with three on the back and one front-facing camera for each display. That distills down into a 48-megapixel main, 10.8-megapixel ultrawide, and a 10.8-megapixel telephoto with 5x optical zoom. Then there’s a 9.5-megapixel camera on the outer display, accompanied by an 8-megapixel camera above the internal display.

For my money, the Pixel Fold’s camera captures much better images nearly across the board.

You’re not going to be disappointed with either phone’s camera setup. The Z Fold 5 can take pictures that you’ll be more than happy with, but the Pixel Fold is more consistent and reliable.

Both camera setups are good, but the Pixel Fold’s image quality stands out when compared to the Fold 5.

Bottom line

At the end of all the back and forth, there are likely two main factors that will tilt the scales in favor of the Z Fold 5 or Pixel Fold. The first is the design, and the second is the software experience. Performance, battery life and even the cameras are very close.

But the design and software experiences are completely different, and something that ultimately will come down to personal preference. I suspect that many will prefer the Pixel Fold’s design over the Z Fold 5. And when it comes to software, Samsung has a huge head start when it comes to the foldable experience and multitasking.

You’re undoubtedly going to live through some growing pains with the Pixel Fold as Google learns how people want to use its foldable and then adopts new features and gets developers to do the same. Meanwhile, the Z Fold 5 is a mature product and one that’s sure to make any newcomers to the foldable segment happy.