The Google Pixel Fold launched relatively late compared to first-gen foldables from other manufacturers. By the time it was finally released in mid-2023, Samsung had just launched the fifth iteration of its book-style take on the foldable phone (and debuted a second look with the more popular Galaxy Z Flip series), and several other companies had also made their debuts. This situation could’ve been vastly different, though — Google actually had another prototype ready a year before the original Pixel Fold but decided to scrap it because it wasn’t “good enough,” as revealed by Google’s head of design for hardware products, Ivy Ross, in a 2023 episode of the Made by Google podcast.
While the existence of this canceled smartphone is a pretty well-known fact, we’ve never actually seen it in photos or learned the full specs, but that changes today. Photos of what appeared to be a mystery Pixel Fold-like device first emerged in a quiet XDA forum thread (the original images are now gone, unfortunately, but we’ve got copies), prompting muted speculation it was either a fake or an early prototype. Thanks to an anonymous source inside Google, Android Authority can confirm that this is actually our first look at the canceled Pixel foldable codename “pipit” and its specs.