Pixel 11 Pro Fold vs Galaxy Z Fold 8: How Google and Samsung's foldables stack up

Samsung and Google have increasingly different approaches to folding phones.

Whether one notable holdout joining the fray will make this the year of the foldable or not, 2026 is already certainly a referendum on foldable aspect ratios. After years of making narrow folding phones, Samsung opted for a wide aspect ratio for the first time with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 , a decision that already seems popular with reviewers. Google, ironically, started its foldable run with a passport-style fold before moving to a narrow aspect ratio more in line with Samsung's. So with the recent announcement of Google's Pixel 11 Pro Fold, there's now a perfect opportunity to compare the two approaches.

Google and Samsung remain close partners when it comes to software, so ideally Android should be as functional on one device as it is on another (save each company's unique flourishes). But the hardware choices each company made, from the size of their screens to the quality of their cameras, could make a difference when you break it all down.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, while visually reminiscent of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 that came before it, is shorter and squatter overall. The foldable features a 5.5-inch AMOLED external screen, designed to be easier to reach with one hand, and a wide, 7.6-inch AMOLED internal screen that works much better for watching video than past Samsung foldables.

In comparison, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold is taller and narrower than the Fold 8, and even 1mm thinner than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold . It features a 6.5-inch Super Actua external display (Google's custom OLED screen) that's closer in size to a normal smartphone, and an 8-inch Super Actua internal display with enough space to easily run two full-sized smartphone apps side-by-side.

Both phones have a 120Hz refresh rate on their displays, and similar peak brightness levels (3,000 nits for the Samsung and 3,600 nits for the Pixel). The Pixel 11 Pro Fold gets one key addition in a new "HiLight" notification light on the camera bar that can change color depending on who's calling or if you're talking to Gemini. The only surprise around the back of the Galaxy Z Fold 8, is the removal of the dedicated telephoto camera found on the Z Fold 7.

What Samsung does offer is more color options. You can purchase the Galaxy Z Fold 8 in a light purple "Lavender," a white "Cream" or a gray "Graphite," with a green "Pistachio" option available exclusively through the company's website. The Pixel 11 Pro Fold only comes in two options, a soft green "Olive" and a black "Obsidian."

Inside, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 features Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, with support for 12GB of RAM on the 256GB and 512GB models, or 16GB of RAM on the 1TB model. Samsung doesn't differentiate chips between the normal Fold 8 and the more expensive Fold 8 Ultra, so you should be getting the fastest possible performance on even the entry-level model. We found that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 easily handled things like multitasking and mobile video editing in our review .