Pixel Fold inner screen not shifting to outer

Silverdude

Hi all, I have a Pixel Fold running the latest stable GOS version (2025020500), and was working fine as of last night. I power it down every night. This morning (now) I turned it on, saw the initial "alternate OS" warning on the outer screen, saw the Google boot logo, and then nothing. Confused, I opened the phone to see the regular password screen on the inner screen. Closing the phone, nothing on the outer. Putting in my password and checking any settings didn't show anything different. After a few reboots to verify the outer screen still works (as indicated), I'm left puzzled. When closed, I can see through the tiny crack between the screen "sandwich" that light is still coming from the inner screen, so that must mean that the sensor to detect the closed position must not be working. Could this be a software issue, or would it be hardware? Again, this only happened (for the first time) after I turned it off last night and turned it on maybe 10 minutes ago. Any advice is appreciated.

ifman13

I have a pixel fold on the same latest stable version and have never had the problem you indicate. I'm sorry I can't help you in more details of your problem....

Silverdude

I hope that the next update resolves the issue, otherwise I don't know what I'm going to do. It has to be a software issue since the cover screen does work up until the initial user password prompt. Can any GOS admins comment on this?

Silverdude

Well I reflashed my phone to stock Android, and the front screen still remains blank; only the inner screen shows activity. I made an appointment with ubreakIfix in a few days, so I guess I'll see if a repair is worthwhile.

I'm frustrated because I babied this phone, and it spontaneously malfunctions after 14 months of ownership while powered off on my kitchen counter.

de0u

Silverdude I'm sorry to hear that. Thanks for taking the time to report back, and best wishes with the repair.

ifman13

Silverdude I am saddened to hear this as the owner of a pixel fold (2023) which I also take great care of and find to be a fantastic smartphone.
I hope that being the front screen it is not an expensive repair, since the one that usually fails more and is very expensive is the inner screen.

Silverdude

ifman13 Well I had booked an appointment with ubreakifix, but they called to inform me that they can't work on Pixel Folds because they aren't able to get any spare parts, for regular repairs or in case they break something on my phone. So that didn't work. Looking at the other option to send it in to Google for repair was going to cost over 700 USD, so that option doesn't work for me either. I ordered a used replacement from eBay, and will consider putting mine up for auction.

I'm not interested in the form-factor of the 9 Pro Fold, so hopefully the 10 Pro Fold has something going for it as a suitable replacement next year after this 12-month warranty expires.

ifman13

Silverdude have you thought about buying the part from ifixit (https://es.ifixit.com/Device/Google_Pixel_Fold) and talking to a local mobile repair store to get the job done?

Even discuss this option with ubreakifix.

Silverdude

ifman13 Well right now I don't know what is wrong, as there is nothing visibly broken. I "suspect" that whatever mechanism used to switch the video output to the outer screen is broken or stuck to inner screen output. I did discuss this with ubreakifix, and they refused because if they break something during the investigation, they can't get any parts for the Fold, and then I'd be even worse off.

ifman13

Silverdude It is not an option to send it to Google? I understand that until they receive it they will not give you a quote, and maybe you are lucky