Google is expanding the Gemini lineup with two Flash models and a specialized Cyber version. But the anticipated frontier model, Gemini 3.5 Pro, is still missing.
Google has announced three new models in the Gemini Flash family: 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, and the cybersecurity model 3.5 Flash Cyber. Buried in the announcement is the fact that Google's anticipated flagship, Gemini 3.5 Pro, is still being tested exclusively with partners and will ship "as soon as it is ready."
Google says pretraining for Gemini 4 is already underway. The company calls it its "most ambitious training run" yet and says it is "excited by the progress." That reads like damage control, and it makes clear that Google knows what the market expects but can't deliver yet.
Gemini 3.6 Flash trades peak performance for efficiency and lower prices
According to the benchmark aggregator Artificial Analysis Index, Gemini 3.6 Flash is expected to use about 17 percent fewer output tokens than 3.5 Flash. Google says the savings reach 65 percent on specific benchmarks such as DeepSWE. Google has cut the price to $1.50 per million input tokens and $7.50 per million output tokens, making it much cheaper than the earlier 3.1 Pro model, which 3.6 Flash consistently beats in benchmarks.
