Key Takeaways
- Google Meet is adding a new Dual Screen feature exclusively for the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, allowing the use of both selfie cameras at the same time.
- Users can also keep the inner screen and cover display active during the video call.
- It’s unclear why this feature is exclusive to the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, given that most book-style foldables today can benefit from this inclusion.
Google Meet is one of the best video chat services you will find today, with both mobile and web apps picking up some exciting new features in the recent past. The Meet app for Android recently got a redesigned call screen interface that makes better use of the available screen space. Google is now back with another feature addition for the video conferencing app, specifically for the recently launched Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
Known as Dual Screen on Meet, this feature will let Pixel 9 Pro Fold owners use both selfie cameras simultaneously during a video call. Google announced the change in a Workspace blog post over the weekend, in addition to some other updates related to Google Chat and Sheets. The company notes that using this feature will show the meeting participants on both the inner and outer screens so that everybody can have a good look at the people on the call.
To be clear, this feature will not leverage the Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s rear camera, instead relying on the cameras that sit within the cover display and the inner screen, respectively. The accompanying support page explains how this feature will work on Google’s latest foldable.
Controls are only available inside a Google Meet call, with the brand-new Dual Camera icon appearing on the floating self-view window. Enabling the dual camera feature in this fashion will also automatically enable Dual Display, Google points out. Users also have the option to disable Dual Display and only use Dual Camera.
Could this feature come to other foldables?
Devices like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, the OnePlus Open, and even the first-generation Pixel Fold largely possess the same arrangement of selfie cameras as the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. With this in mind, it’s hard to understand why this new Dual Screen feature would remain exclusive to the latest Google hardware. This could well be a period of temporary exclusivity for Google’s second-gen foldable, and we hope Meet eventually expands this feature to cover most, if not every, book-style foldable on the market today.
Away from this Pixel 9 Pro Fold-exclusive feature, Google Meet is also working on significantly revamping the service with the help of add-ons. The team recently rolled out the Meet Add-ons SDK for the web version of the app, enabling third-party developers to build custom experiences or activities for the video calling app.
