Here’s just how many of our readers said they’d buy a folding Pixel

Damien Wilde | Jun 21 2021 - 5:00 am PT

Last week we asked our readers if they’d buy a folding Pixel, and with thousands of responses, it was interesting to see just what people had to say about the potentially new form factor.

We had a fairly large response, with many people suggesting that they simply have no interest in a folding smartphone — least of all a folding Pixel. A whopping 40.25% of our readers suggest that, no, they wouldn’t buy a folding Pixel as they simply have no interest in the form factor. While we expected people not to care about folding smartphones, this is far higher than we actually expected.

Reader Michael Brown makes one of the most salient points though, suggesting that “everyone will be uninterested in foldables until Apple makes some ‘magical’ add that’ll make people interested.” It’s really hard to argue against his logic here – as is often the case in the tech space, breakthroughs and features often don’t matter until Apple does it. That could very well be true with folding smartphones, even though the Galaxy Z Fold 2 is an utterly fantastic smartphone in its own right and rightly deserves plaudits.

A smaller proportion (2.8%) suggested that they wouldn’t buy a folding Pixel due to pricing concerns, compared to 7.04% of our readers who said they’d buy such a device no matter the cost. This is a larger figure than we expected, especially as it would be fairly safe to assume that a folding Google Pixel device would easily break the $1,000 barrier — making it the most expensive Pixel smartphone device to date.

Unsurprisingly, durability concerns are at the forefront of our readers’ minds, with 16.9% suggesting that this is a reason they are still on the fence as to whether they would buy a folding Google Pixel. Given the early issues with the original Galaxy Fold and some subsequent folding devices, this is always going to be a reason for worry. Even more so if you’re spending upwards of $1,000 on a device and want to be sure it will withstand daily use and abuse. While a “regular” smartphone can have parts replaced easily, there are many more mechanisms and areas a folding smartphone can fail or break. Proof that a hinge can take abuse, while the screen won’t suddenly break, could easily change opinion right ahead of launch.

We still don’t know what it might cost to buy a folding Pixel, but that still didn’t stop a fairly small 2.82% of our readers stating that the price is one of the major reasons they wouldn’t consider one. If we use the Galaxy Z Fold 2 as a barometer, it could be a pricey product even with some trimming here and there. Foldables are still ultra-premium products right now, meaning a high-end cost is often attached.

Just 3.46% of our readers said that another folding device is a reason why they would overlook a Google-made foldable. Review scores was another reason cited, which is fair given that we barely know anything just yet about this upcoming device. You could very easily argue that it’s too easy to even pose the question, but we wanted to get a barometer given that new form factors are likely coming to the Pixel series this year.

It looks as though the jury is out on a Pixel foldable and foldable smartphones in general given the feedback we’ve received, but whether you agree with the form factor or not, it looks as though smartphone OEMs are going all-in for 2021 and beyond. Just whether we’ll even be able to buy a folding Pixel before the end of 2021 isn’t even yet confirmed.

Be sure to let us know what you think of the poll results down in the comments below.