And that placement comes with an interesting advantage: You can tell your Pixel Fold or Tablet to recognize your fingerprint on the button anytime, even when the screen is off, and unlock instantly without first requiring a forceful press to turn the screen on.
It sounds like a small thing, I know, but it really does make a monumental difference — as it makes it so fast and easy to unlock your Pixel, simply by placing your finger up against that button. Particularly with the power button’s side-of-device placement on the Fold, you can essentially unlock the thing as you’re grabbing it and pulling it out of your pocket or pouch of choice and have it powered up, on your home screen, and ready to roll before you’re even looking at it directly.
The downside is that it’s so easy to unlock with the proper fingerprint that you might find yourself unlocking the phone inadvertently when you’re picking it up or even just gently fondling it from time to time (as one does). So you’ll really need to take a bit of time to play around with this option and see how you like it.