Android 12 Beta confirms the existence of Google's upcoming foldable phone

The foldable smartphone market may soon get crowded with major firms like Google, OPPO, Vivo rumored to be launching their first-ever foldable phones this year. We haven’t heard much about the OPPO and Vivo-branded foldable phone as of yet, but it looks like Google has made significant headway in developing its first-ever foldable smartphone as the Android 12 Bete has found mention of codename for the foldable smartphone.

Google just released the first beta build of Android 12, giving us closer look at what the upcoming major Android update will be about. Besides new features, the Android 12 Beta 1 update also found mentions of several codenames for Google’s upcoming smartphones, including Barbet, Oriole, Raven, and Passport.

If 9to5google is to be believed, Barbet is the codename for Pixel 5a 5G, while Oriole and Raven are being used for the Pixel 6 family. In one of our previous posts, we said that “Passport” was the codename for Google’s first-ever foldable phone.

• Barbet (Pixel 5a 5G) – G4S1M
• Oriole (Pixel 6 family) – GR1YH
• Raven (Pixel 6 family) – GF5KQ
• Passport (Pixel foldable) – GPQ72

Apart from the aforementioned codenames, the beta build also has mentions of “Needlefish,” a codename for the 5G variant of the Pixel 4. However, the codename for the Pixel 4 5G smartphone was first uncovered in 2019, and as we all know, that device was never released. The same could happen with Google’s upcoming foldable phone as well — the appearance of the “Passport” codename in Android 12 Beta isn’t a direct confirmation of the fact that Google will release the foldable phone this year.

On the contrary, however, display analyst Ross Young claims that the Mountain View tech firm will release its first-ever foldable phone this year. Only time will tell whether Google manages to release its much-awaited foldable phone this year.

Meanwhile, Google has sought help from Samsung to develop the display technology for its foldable phone.