Google gave up on a different foldable phone prior to Pixel Fold

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Google supposedly had another foldable in the works, but scrapped it because it wasn’t good enough

After years of waiting, Google finally announced its new foldable smartphone, the Pixel Fold, at the Google I/O Developer conference in early May 2023. 

The Pixel Fold turned out to be a fabulous foldable device from the company, according to the YouTubers and influencers who attended the conference and got some hands-on experience with the device.  

However, a new statement from Google’s head of hardware design reveals the existence of a second foldable device. The second device, however, was in development but didn’t make the final cut. 

The Official Made by Google Podcast spills the beans

In an episode of the official Made by Google Podcast, Ivy Ross, head of hardware product design, revealed the existence of a second foldable device.

“Made by Google” is a weekly podcast that features conversations with the company’s executives, who discuss various ongoing projects at Google.

“I’m really proud of the team because there was another foldable model that we had created, that we had the discipline to hold back and say ‘nope, it’s not good enough yet,’ and really wait until we felt like we could do something that was good enough or better than what was out there already,” Ross stated on the podcast.

In the past, there were rumors that Google was developing two foldable phones. The podcast now confirms that these earlier rumors were true.

The Google foldable we didn’t get

However, we still don’t know what the second foldable device looks like, but my instinct tells me it was a flip-style device, and the rumors at that time indicated a device with two displays, i.e., a flip or fold-style device.

A Google Pixel Flip could have been a great option instead of the Google Pixel Fold. However, it seems like it’s not happening.

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