If you do, you might as well buy a new phone.
Credit: Marques Brownlee/YouTube
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is expensive. That’s not news for anyone who follows smartphones closely, particular the foldable variety. As David Nield explains in a review for Lifehacker, Google made some great choices for its latest Fold device, but at $1,799, these things are still way too much money.
As it turns out, that expense might extend beyond just the initial purchase of the phone. Smartphones are slabs of glass we take everywhere with us, so, when we inevitably drop them at some point, they may break. When you break the display of a Pixel 9 Pro Fold, however, it’s going to cost a lot more than you might expect—even if you have experience with the Fold’s history of repair costs.
As spotted by 9to5Google, iFixit now has listings for official parts for the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. If you need to repair the inner screen of your Fold—say, if you dropped it while opened into “tablet” mode—that’s going to run you $1,199.99 (or $1,206.99 for the entire “Fix Kit”). Compare that to the original Pixel Fold’s inner screen replacement part, which cost $899 on iFixit, or $909.99 for the Fix Kit.
$1,200 for a display is an enormous ask. For that price, you can buy an iPhone 16 Pro Max, or a MacBook Air, or four Nintendo Switches. $1,200 for just the inner display means that, if you break and fix your Fold 9 Pro, you’ll have spent $3,000 all-in, all for a device that runs Android.
Now, that’s if you’re not protected: Google does offer insurance on the Pro 9 Fold for $15 per month. That covers up to two instances of damage per 12-month period. So, you could potentially run Google up a tab of $2,400 for just $180 of insurance fees. While no one wants to add the extra $15 a month to their bill, it’s a lot better than facing down the MSRP on that display part.
Still, it’s a staggering number. Again, it’s $300 more than Google’s previous foldable inner display cost, and when you look at the competition, it gets even worse. Samsung charges $499 to repair the inner display of the Galaxy Z Fold 5, a fraction of the cost.
My advice? Get the insurance, and keep a death grip on this thing.
Jake Peterson
Senior Technology Editor
Jake Peterson is Lifehacker’s Senior Technology Editor. He has a BFA in Film & TV from NYU, where he specialized in writing. Jake has been helping people with their technology professionally since 2016, beginning as technical specialist at New York’s 5th Avenue Apple Store, then as a writer for the website Gadget Hacks. In that time, he wrote and edited thousands of news and how-to articles about iPhones and Androids, including reporting on live demos from product launches from Samsung and Google. In 2021, he moved to Lifehacker and covers everything from the best uses of AI in your daily life to which MacBook to buy. His team covers all things tech, including smartphones, computers, game consoles, and subscriptions. He lives in Connecticut.
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