Google almost got it right with the first Pixel Fold. 

As Google unveils its latest foldable, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, at this year’s Made by Google event, I keep thinking about the original Pixel Fold. Released in 2023, it was far from a perfect phone. It was underpowered, had a thick inner bezel and couldn’t open completely flat. Even then, it was a beautiful device with a shiny stainless steel chassis that felt substantial in the hand. Not only that, it was wide. The passport-like form factor made it squat in comparison to slab-style iPhones and Galaxys, but when opened up, it had an almost TV-like 17:9 aspect ratio. 

Then, with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold the following year, Google threw out the Moleskine for Galaxy Z Fold-style safety. 

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold axed its predecessor’s passport-like form factor for a slab that happened to fold open. Literally, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold had the same outer screen aspect ratio as the Pixel 9 Pro. Here, Google was folding (no pun intended) to industry trends, following similar form factors of the Galaxy Z Fold 6, OnePlus Open, Xiaomi’s MIX Fold 4 and others. 

Apart from the first Pixel Fold, the only other phone to go squat and wide was the first Oppo Find N from 2021. YouTuber Marques Brownlee went so far as to call it the best folding phone, in terms of form factor. Since then, Oppo dropped the passport for a folding slab, as can be seen with the Oppo Find N5.

Why all foldables look the same

A major reason all foldable phone makers have adopted a similar form factor is app support. The outer display on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 has a more typical slab phone aspect ratio, meaning apps better conform to its standard smartphone-like screen. And when opened, loading up two apps side-by-side fits well on what’s essentially a long rectangle.

«That’s what led us to say, ‘Hey, we need to make this a phone first in terms of design,'» Claude Zellweger, Google’s director of industrial design, said in a 2024 blog post about the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

The other issue is Android’s limited app support for tablets. The iPad, which has strong support from Apple, sells well and gets plenty of app updates to support its wider form factor. The same can’t be said for Android tablets. Many Android apps aren’t optimized for wider tablet aspect ratios. It’s a recurring complaint from fans and tech columnists. It doesn’t help that Google hasn’t put in a strong effort in the tablet space either, with the company axing its Pixel Tablet line after just one attempt.

So, when you tried to run Reddit or some other popular third-party apps on the Pixel Fold’s wide screen, the app would have black bars on both sides, essentially running in the same aspect ratio as a typical phone. This problem persists on taller foldables as well; it just isn’t as prominent.

Who’ll make a foldable that gets it right?

Despite the anemic support for tablet apps, I’d love to see a foldable phone with the measurements of the Microsoft Surface Duo. Released in 2020, it was a half-step toward what foldable phones are today. Instead of having a foldable inner display, it was two screens bisected by a hinge. It really felt like holding a metal and glass Moleskine notebook. The inner two displays on the Surface Duo had a 4:3 aspect ratio, which is also square-like. This is largely due to its chunky inner bezels. Foldable screen tech has come a long way since. Assuming Microsoft were to make a true foldable in 2025 with minimal bezels, the inner display could have a wide 24:9 aspect ratio. It would be a beastly device for watching YouTube, Netflix or playing games. And rotating it would feed my eyes an endless scroll of Instagram Reels brainrot. 

The likelihood of any foldable phone-maker bisecting a 16:9 or 21:9 screen is slim. Honestly, if any phone-maker could do something so daring, it’d be Apple. Rumors have been floating for some time that Apple is working on a clamshell-like foldable for 2027. If Apple does decide to jump into the world of book-style foldables, thanks to the iPad, a wide foldable iPhone would be ready to go without the need for developers to massively overhaul their apps. Assuming Apple does do a squat and wide foldable, that move would likely prompt the rest of the smartphone market to (again, I apologize for the pun), fold. 

The White House has officially joined TikTok, even as the administration is trying to help determine the future of the platform in the US.

So far, the TikTok account has four videos, a mix of videos of President Donald Trump speaking, footage of the White House itself over music and the caption: «We’re so back.» There’s also a video of Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responding with hostility to a press conference question from a New York Times reporter, which is one way to set the tone early doors. As of this writing, the account had more than 123,000 followers so far.

The tagline for the account is: «Welcome to the Golden Age of America.»

After a move to ban TikTok in the US due to its Chinese ownership, the administration has delayed a shutdown as it seeks to help the company’s owner ByteDance, transfer ownership to a US company. There are expectations that new ownership could be announced as early as September as the company works on a US-only version of the TikTok mobile app. 

The Steam Deck has yet to find a real competitor in the PC handheld gaming device battle. Other hardware companies, including Asus, Lenovo and MSI, have tried, but so far, their devices keep falling short. Asus plans to try to take another swipe at the crown, though, this time with the help of Microsoft.

In June, the two revealed their partnership for a new handheld device: the ROG Xbox Ally. This handheld will come in two variants and will attempt to bring the Xbox console experience to a portable device. Microsoft confirmed the release date for the Xbox Ally of Oct. 16 on Wednesday, but there are still some questions about the handheld. 

Will the Xbox Ally outdo the Steam Deck, or will it wind up being just another wannabe?

How much will the Xbox Ally cost?

Neither Microsoft nor Asus has confirmed an official price yet. One thing for sure is that the Xbox Ally won’t be cheap.

Multiple leaks suggest the price will be 599 euros for the Xbox Ally and 899 euros for a higher-end version, the Xbox Ally X. That does leave the question of what the price will be in the US. Most likely, the price will be the same just in dollars, as that is the typical practice for gaming hardware prices.

Discount social media poster Wario64 tweeted Best Buy listings for the Xbox Ally, Xbox Ally X, charger dock, and case on Wednesday. There’s no pricing on the site for the devices, just a button to be notified when preorders become available. However, Wario64 states the pricing on the back end shows the Xbox Ally at $550 and the Xbox Ally X at $900, while the charging dock is listed on the site $100 and case for $70. The dock and case prices are on Best Buy and are accurate. It’s unclear if Microsoft changed plans at the last minute. 

Microsoft didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the post. 

The uncertainty about the price of the Xbox Ally is likely due to tariffs. Microsoft recently increased the prices of its Xbox Series consoles and Asus has done the same with its laptops and its current ROG Ally lineup.

When does the Xbox Ally come out?

Microsoft did confirm the release date of the Xbox Ally on Oct. 16. This date was mentioned in previous leaks regarding the handheld device’s price. 

When can I preorder the Xbox Ally? 

Preorders are not available as of yet. In the blog post about the release date, Microsoft says preordering and pricing will be announced sometime in the future. Best Buy does have the listings for the Xbox Ally, Xbox Ally X, charging dock and case, and those interested can request to be notified when preorders become available. 

What’s the difference between the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X?

There are two versions of the Xbox Ally: the lower-priced Xbox Ally and the higher-priced Xbox Ally X.

The key differences between the two are in their processors, storage and memory. The Xbox Ally will have the AMD Ryzen Z2 A Processor, while the Xbox Ally X will use the faster AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme Processor. Memory will be different, with the lower-priced Xbox Ally having 16GB of LPDDR5X-6400 and the higher-cost handheld coming with 24GB LPDDR5X-8000. Both will come with SSD storage but the Xbox Ally will have 512GB and the Xbox Ally X will have 1TB. The Xbox Ally X will also come with a bigger battery but with a faster processor and more memory. It’s not clear if that difference in capacity translates to a longer battery life.

What makes the Xbox Ally different from the Steam Deck?

The most notable difference between the Xbox Ally and the Steam Deck is the operating system. Like the ROG Ally, the Xbox Ally will also use Windows 11, while the Steam Deck uses Valve’s SteamOS.

Even though every PC game works with Windows, handheld gaming devices running Windows have had serious issues, as the OS implementation has been a bit buggy. Portable consoles like the ROG Ally, MSI Claw and Lenovo Legion Go simply don’t run well with full Windows because the OS is designed for laptops and desktops and not handheld devices. SteamOS, however, is designed to run almost every game on Steam without issues and regardless of device size.

The Xbox Ally changes that by giving it an Xbox interface. This would be similar to how the Xbox app on PCs works for running games. It would also be able to download Xbox games directly to it, remote play them off a console or stream them via Xbox Cloud.

Another big difference is the hardware. The Steam Deck came out in 2022 and it was the first mass-produced handheld gaming device for PC. At the time, Valve had to use custom AMD processors but since then, AMD has produced more processors for handheld devices, which are now much more powerful in just a few years. The Xbox Ally would also have faster RAM. Both the improvement in processors and RAM should significantly increase the number of games the Xbox Ally can run versus the Steam Deck, which is already struggling to run newer games at 30fps.

Externally, the Xbox Ally will come with the same size 7-inch display but it will have a higher refresh rate of 120Hz, a brighter screen at 500 nits and increased resolution at 1080p. There will also be some slight differences in the physical size of the Xbox Ally, which will be a little bigger and heavier. Another difference from the Steam Deck is that the Xbox Ally controls will be more similar to the Xbox controller.

Microsoft and Asus have a large hill to climb if they plan to have the Xbox Ally dethrone the Steam Deck. It will be especially tough if Valve decides to announce the Steam Deck 2 soon.