Why buy the Pixel Tablet when you can get the Pixel Fold instead?
Google recently announced two new products at its annual developer conference: a foldable phone and a tablet. I was on the ground at I/O and I can confirm the Pixel Fold garnered significantly more interest than the Pixel Tablet during demo sessions. It's understandable — foldables are still a relatively "new" thing in the mobile space (especially in North America) and it requires more cutting-edge hardware to pull off, while a tablet is... a larger slab phone with thicker bezels.
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While the two devices are priced so far apart they will likely appeal to two different groups, I can say as someone who's been using foldable phones for four years that those who buy the Pixel Fold (or any other foldable phone) likely won't need the Pixel Tablet (or any other stay-at-home tablet). If a foldable phone is good enough, it replaces the need for a tablet at home.
Switching from tablets to foldables was an excellent choice
The Pixel Fold.
From 2011–2020, I had a great iPad that was a major part of my home life. Like many millennials/Gen Z living in small apartments in cities, I had cut the cord years ago (I didn't even own a TV for about five years) and consumed most of my content from the internet. And the iPad went with me everywhere inside my apartment, from the couch to, embarrassingly, the bathroom and bedroom. The number of movies or Netflix shows I've watched while laying sideways on my bed with the iPad propped (also sideways) against the nightstand is so high it probably explains my permanent dark eye circles.
But ever since foldable hardware became good following the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 in 2020, I've been using them instead of my iPad for handheld entertainment. Sure, a foldable phone's screen size is smaller than most iPad screens, but that smaller form factor also makes it easier to hold with one hand and move from room to room. Since I use chat apps (like WhatsApp and Signal) that can only be tied to a single device, it was also just easier for my foldable phone to also be my at-home machine instead of jumping to a secondary device.
If it's good enough, the Pixel Fold could be a better tablet that's easier to hold than the Pixel one, and would thus make the latter mostly redundant. My colleague Rich Woods and I each demoed the Pixel Fold separately during our time at Google I/O, but he wasn't impressed. And while I wasn't exactly blown away either, I am more neutral for now and plan to test it further. But even if the Pixel Fold does indeed suck, I still have the Galaxy Z Fold 4 or the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2, so I won't be jumping back to a tablet at home anytime soon, if ever again.
The Vivo X Fold (middle) with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 (right) and Oppo Find N (left).
Some North America-based readers may be scoffing at what I'm saying because the idea of a folding phone still seems so niche and experimental in this part of the world. But in reality, the foldable phone scene is lagging in North America. It's much further ahead in countries such as China, South Korea, and Singapore, where you see foldable phones out in the world much more often. In China in particular, the foldable market is becoming flooded with options, and they're not considered prohibitively expensive, either. I don't know if the foldable phone will ever become mainstream in North America the way it already has in those three countries, but clearly, Samsung, Google, and Chinese brands are betting on it. There are reliable rumors that say Apple is working on one too.
The future of tablets is as a laptop replacement, not an in-hand home device
The Pixel Tablet.
Here's the thing, saying "a foldable phone makes the tablet pointless" shouldn't be a hot take, because the whole point of the foldable phone (large ones, anyway) is to have a single device that can be a phone and tablet. The in-hand tablet being made redundant is just the direction in which the mobile industry is building.
This doesn't mean there's no place for Android tablets anymore, or that Apple's potential foldable will immediately make iPads useless. I think with advancements in ARM-based mobile chips, tablets have become more than powerful enough to become laptop replacements for many people. This is why Samsung released a tablet with a 14.6-inch screen last year, and reliable rumors say Apple has a 16-inch iPad in the works. Sales numbers reflect this too: a report by research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) released last December cited the largest 12.9-inch iPad Pro as the best-selling model of the bunch. Clearly, tablets are increasingly meant to be attached to a keyboard case and be desk-bound productivity machines more than as handheld devices on the sofa.
The dock could be the differentiating factor to justify the Pixel Tablet
The Pixel Tablet does offer something new that sets it apart from other tablets: a dock that's meant to sit at home permanently and serve as a base for the Pixel Tablet. The dock charges the tablet and has built-in speakers. The tablet when docked can also display photos like a digital photo frame and control smart home features. The Pixel Tablet essentially becomes a Nest Hub.
I can see North American consumers, who on average live in much larger homes than people in Asia and Europe, finding genuine use with the dock. But if we're being honest, there's not much you can do with the Pixel Tablet you wouldn't be able to do with the Pixel Fold.
I am in no way saying people should ditch the tablet and buy a foldable phone. I am fully aware that, with a nearly $1,300 price difference, the Pixel Tablet is an easier purchase for most people than the Pixel Fold. The point is that if you have decided you will buy a foldable phone (or you already own one) then you probably don't need an at-home tablet, which happened to me. Otherwise, my preference for watching videos or writing emails on the sofa/bed with a Galaxy Z Fold 4 instead of an iPad is not a recent development. I've been fully on board foldables for years, and you might be too.
Source: XDA Developers
