This is Google’s new foldable phone | CNN Business

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Just days before its product launch, Google unveiled a first look at its first foldable smartphone.

In a video posted on Twitter and YouTube, the company showed off a Pixel phone with a vertical hinge that can be opened to reveal a tablet-like display.

The company will host its annual developer conference at its headquarters in Mountain View, California next week, where it is also rumored to introduce a budget Pixel 7a phone, its latest Android operating system and advances in its Bard chatbot with artificial intelligence

While the company didn’t reveal the specifications of the Pixel Fold, it’s becoming increasingly common for companies to show off products ahead of their own events in an effort to build excitement and set expectations at a time when it’s hard to surprise viewers with something. unexpected

Despite the huge interest in flip phones and the resurgence of 90s-style flip phones among celebrities and TikTok influencers, the flip market is relatively small; with Samsung dominating the category, followed by others such as Motorola/Lenovo, Oppo and Huawei. According to ABI Research, foldable and flexible displays accounted for about 0.7% of the smartphone market in 2021, and in 2022 it was expected to fall to just under 2%.

High prices also have limited consumer adoption. The Pixel Fold is rumored to start at $1,700.

It’s no surprise that Google is jumping into the world of foldables, but it may have waited to release its own version until the technology became more advanced. Early versions of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, for example, had issues with the display and most apps weren’t well optimized for the design.

“Google has been working to provide better user experiences for foldable devices from a software perspective, so when you add improvements on the hardware side, the market conditions are now in a state where it makes sense for a Pixel Fold,” said Michael Inouye, an analyst at ABI Research.