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See the inside of the Pixel Fold. It’s stuffy there. (Full disclosure, this is a composite of the left and right halves with all the thermal tape peeled off.)
PBK reviews
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With all the parts out, you can see how the two sides communicate through all those black ribbon cables.
PBK reviews
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The motherboard.
PBK reviews
The Pixel Fold is one of Google’s most complicated pieces of hardware ever, but what does it look like inside? The Pixel line doesn’t get much teardown love from iFixit anymore (despite an official partnership), but PBK Reviews is still a reliable source for timely teardowns of Google’s latest phones.
As usual, the Pixel Fold is glued together, so you’ll need to heat up the back and front screen and then pry everything off. The camera side of the device has most of the normal phone components, such as the three cameras, the SoC, storage, modem, bottom speaker and USB-C port, and it also houses a 1489 mAh battery. The other side is mostly the battery, with a large 3332 mAh battery, the exterior camera, haptic feedback vibrator, earpiece and SIM tray.
It doesn’t look like there’s much room for recoverability. The USB-C port lives on the motherboard, so it will be difficult to replace it. PBK Reviews didn’t even try to pry off the flexible screen because of “a high probability of damaging or breaking the screen,” but presumably there’s just a large sheet of metal underneath. With all the parts removed, you can see how the two sides communicate as a series of ribbon cables threading their way through the hinge.
The next step for the Pixel Fold in repairability is Google’s partnership with iFixit, which should launch an official parts store for the phone. Then we can see how much a new flexible display will cost and official guides to replace it. It is unclear how long it will take for the parts store to open. Google and iFixit still haven’t released parts for the Pixel 7a, and that phone launched in May.
List image by PBKRreviews
