Three confirms it will stock the £1,749 Google Pixel Fold from June

Three has confirmed it will soon be stocking the £1,749 Google Pixel Fold announced yesterday.

Google has also updated the £449 mid-tier Pixel 6a with the Pixel 7a which has the same G2 Tensor chip as the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro,

Pixel 7a: mid-tier price of £449

“Despite the impressive engineering behind Google Pixel Fold, the jury is still out whether foldable phones represent the future of smartphones, or if they will remain a niche and very highly-priced product for a limited number of customers” said Ernest Doku, mobiles analyst at Uswitch.com 

 “Around 13 million foldable phones shipped last year which is barely one per cent of global smartphone sales. It will be interesting to see if the £1,749 Google Pixel Fold can significantly shift the dial, or whether that responsibility will rest with the mythical iPhone Flip”.

“Given the major price hikes facing mobile customers, it’ll be no surprise if the likes of the Pixel and Apple’s iPhone SE range are particularly popular options this year,” says Doku.

Doku: the jury is still out on whether foldable phones represent the future of smartphones

“There will be a middle-ground in terms of price later in the year, although Google fans will probably have to wait until October to get their hands on the flagship Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro”.

According to uSwitch Google’s Android powers around 72 per cent of all smartphones. The latest version of Google’s OS, Android 14, will launch later in the year and promises to deliver improved personalisation, privacy and security.

Meanwhile OPPO announced its foldable phone, the OPPO Find N2 Flip will be one of the first smartphones in the world to receive the new Google Android 14 Beta 1 update.

Android 14 includes several updates to enhance productivity, performance, privacy, security and user customisation. It offers more intuitive system user interfaces, such as the new mid-display back arrow and an improved system share sheet. To strengthen users’ privacy, the system allows apps to limit the visibility of specified views only to accessibility services.