The new Pixel 9 Pro Fold is coming, but Google has a problem to solve

Wait, what, why? Well, see...

Back in the day, when the first iPad launched, people were just pointing at it and laughing — "It's an oversized iPod!". Sure, some people that bought them enjoyed reading books on them or just browsing the web on the larger screen. However, most people that got a tablet found themselves not using it, especially since big-screened phones were becoming more prominent. 

It was much quicker and easier to pull out your phone for all those "let me just google something" moments, than to reach for a tablet. Looking at apps on a tablet was pretty pointless, because they were just inflated versions of the phone apps — not showing you more info, just showing you bigger content. And Kindles were the better choice for reading books, with their easy-on-the-eyes E Ink displays.

Android tablets had the same issues. But Apple managed to find ways to make the iPad enticing. One of those ways were App Store guidelines for the iPad — if developers wanted their apps to be available for the iPad, they had to follow design guidelines and actually develop their UI for the big screens. Not just port the phone app to the tablet.

Was that a big deal? Well, look at it this way — over the past decade, Android tablets have been throwing everything plus the kitchen sink at us. Top-tier hardware, split screen, floating windows, included stylus, multi-speaker setups, et cetera, et cetera. Over these years, the iPad was constantly being criticized for having limited hardware, limited multitasking, no true stereo speakers. And Apple was painstakingly slow at adding or upgrading those features.

Yet, over these years, Android tablets were declining to a point where almost all manufacturers gave up on making them. And iPads have been on a steady rise, to the point where Apple now offers them in 6 flavors and has the gall to ask "premium laptop" money for them.

And yes, as a person who abandoned the iPad 10 years ago, but now uses an iPad every single day — I believe a lot of this is down to the app experience. I just have a reason to prefer to use an iPad over a phone — the big screen actually shows me more information. Or an iPad over a laptop — I can easily take it from room to room while doing anything else.

Anyone who has used a foldable phone today may notice similarities here. When you open up that expensive Galaxy Z Fold 6 or Google Pixel Fold, you get pretty much the same apps and experience... only bigger. And square-shaped. You don't even get to watch bigger YouTube videos or movies — they are in wide-screen format (talking about the trendy 19:9 or above cinematic format), which means you get huge black bars on the top and bottom of the screen, and the image on screen is the same size as a Galaxy S24 Ultra or iPhone 15 Pro Max display.

Gaming? Sure... depends on which games, though. On FPS titles, the square aspect ratio can give you a very weird FOV — hampering peripheral vision and not even giving you a good view of your character's weapon.

Then, we also have websites — even if you have a huge, almost-8-inch screen in your hands, many websites will adapt and show you a phone version. Many UI elements get hidden in a sandwich menu, instead of giving you a top bar to navigate the site more easily, for example. Attached exhibit below — Z Fold showing mobile version vs iPad showing desktop version:

Now, hold on, I do have an olive branch in my hand — I understand that the big, square screens lend themselves very well to multi-tasking. But I have questions. Do you really dual-thumb multi-task on your phone so often that you can justify dropping ~$1,800 on one? If you do, sure, cool.

For me — I see that as a very nice bonus. But it's not the main course here. The big screen of the foldable phones needs to provide a superior, enhanced, and improved experience with the apps — a reason for me to actually want to flick that phone open!

Why am I throwing Google into this conversation? Well, like Apple draws the rules for iOS (and iPadOS), Google is the one that says what goes with commercial Android. In fact, when foldables first came out, Google added responsive/adaptive design guidelines, allowing developers to optimize their apps accordingly. But few did.

The good news is that these design choices are not mutually-exclusive — you can use Adaptive design to have your app rearrange itself for an unfolded screen, and Responsive design to make sure everything fits right within the new resolution. Google apps — like your favorite Play Store — do use both Responsive and Adaptive.

Yeah, that example with the Google Play Store above? Well, it doesn't apply to quite a lot of apps. In fact, even the YouTube Studio app doesn't seem willing to adapt from folded to unfolded state. I would guess it's still pretty hard to implement these features.

What can be done? Fortunately, I am not a developer, but the armchair complainer here. Far as I can gather, it's tough work for developers to implement and maintain a healthy combination of Responsive and Adaptive design. I do hope that Google is working on making this easier and easier with future Android updates.

In other words — there is a silver lining. And while there are many users out there who — like me — are oddly disappointed with the actual usefulness they can get out of a foldable's big screen, I am here to tell you, it may just get better. Just like how tablets were bad, but are now not so bad — the signs are there that apps on foldable phones will be getting better and better. Hopefully — soon!