At its annual Google I/O developer conference yesterday, Google announced a range of new hardware and software updates. One product that’s stealing most of the headlines is the long-awaited Google Pixel Fold, the company’s first foray into foldable smartphones.
As our friends at 9to5Google have reported, the Pixel Fold will be available next month, and Google is hoping it can lure iPhone users with some impressively lucrative trade-in values.
Google *really* wants iPhone users to try the Pixel Fold
The Google Pixel Fold will retail for $1,799 and be available on June 27. To help customers stomach that price, Google is offering a free Pixel Watch with all purchases and focusing heavily on trade-in values to entice upgrades.
Apple has yet to enter the foldable smartphone and tablet market. Rumors say the company is working on various different foldable iPhone and iPad prototypes. Those devices, however, aren’t expected to be released anytime in the near future. Google, like Samsung in the past, wants to tap into the potential demand from iPhone users who want a foldable form factor.
On its website, Google advertises impressive iPhone trade-in values that best Apple’s own offers as well as those from third-party trade-in services. Google, for example, is offering $900 for users trading in an iPhone 14 Pro with 128GB of storage. That’s only $100 less than what a brand-new iPhone 14 Pro costs.
For the iPhone 13 Pro, Google is offering a trade-in credit of $850 toward the Pixel Fold. That’s $320 than Apple’s advertised trade-in price for the same device of $530.
Google is also valuing iPhone trade-ins significantly more than trade-ins of its own Pixel devices. For instance, trading in a Pixel 7 Pro towards a Pixel Fold will net you a $380 credit. The Pixel 7 Pro, which was related last October, retails for $899 for the base 128GB configuration.
If you look at Google’s trade-in offers for the Pixel 7 Pro, you can see just how much of an emphasis the company is putting on the Pixel Fold. When buying a Pixel 7 Pro, Google offers a trade-in credit of $300 for the iPhone 13 Pro – significantly less than it gives you for the same phone when trading in toward a Pixel Fold.
Whether or not Google’s strategy of overpaying for iPhone trade-ins to boost Pixel Fold sales remains to be seen. After all, the Pixel Fold is Google’s first-ever foldable device and we’ll need to wait for full reviews to know how it stacks up. Over at 9to5Google, Abner Li says that the Pixel Fold left him impressed after going hands-on with the device:
Google spent a lot of time engineering the dual-axis, quad-cam synchronized hinge to make sure there was no gap when the Pixel Fold is closed. Opening and closing the Pixel Fold is a smooth action made possible by what Google calls a 180-degree fluid friction hinge, with the various postures holding steady and tight magnets keeping it shut. Google is also proud of its stainless steel exterior, which is said to offer high scratch resistance. It matches the frosted back glass, which uses post-recycled resins and recycled adhesives.
Are you considering trading in your iPhone for the Google Pixel Fold? Or are you waiting for Apple to make its own foray into foldable devices? Let us know down in the comments.
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