Google appears to be prepping two new AI models for deployment, with identifiers for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite surfacing inside the company’s development infrastructure. The model ID gemini-3.6-flash-tiered was spotted in Google’s Antigravity IDE, suggesting the models are at least close to being ready for external access through AI Studio and the Vertex API.
What we actually know about the new models
The Gemini 3.6 Flash and 3.5 Flash Lite registrations were first noted on July 21, 2026. Internal registration in development tools is typically one of the final steps before a model becomes publicly accessible, though it doesn’t guarantee an imminent launch.
Google’s existing Gemini 3.5 Flash model remains operational on both AI Studio and Vertex AI. That model currently runs at approximately $1.50 per million input tokens and $9 per million output tokens, with a context window of 1 million tokens.
The “tiered” suffix in the registered ID for the 3.6 Flash model hints at a pricing structure with multiple access levels, possibly differentiating between rate-limited free tiers and paid production tiers.
