Google launches Gemini 3.6 Flash and teases Gemini 4

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Google launches Gemini 3.6 Flash and 3.5 Flash-Lite, teases Gemini 4

Abner Li | Jul 21 2026 - 8:00 am PT

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As we wait for 3.5 Pro, Google today announced Gemini 3.6 Flash and 3.5 Flash-Lite, while providing updates on what comes next.

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Gemini 3.6 Flash follows the last release at I/O 2026. This update takes into account developer and customer feedback since May by being “more token efficient across tasks.”

Compared to 3.5 Flash, it consumes 17% fewer output tokens (per the Artificial Analysis Index), while taking “fewer reasoning steps and tool calls to accomplish multi-step workflows.” At the same time, it’s priced lower at $1.50/1M input tokens and $7.50/1M output tokens (versus $9/1M output).

In terms of coding performance, Gemini 3.6 Flash “delivers higher precision with fewer unwanted code edits and reduced execution loops” than its predecessor. Specifically:<br>Advertisement - scroll for more content

It generates higher quality and more reliable, production-ready code as seen in DeepSWE (49% vs. 37%), and shows significant improvement in ML Research, as seen in MLE Bench (63.9% vs. 49.7%).

For knowledge work, the model scores 1421 on GDPval-AA (versus 1349). Computer use capabilities go from 78.4% on OSWorld-Verified to 83%. The knowledge cutoff date finally advances from January 2025 to March 2026.

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite

The company also announced Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite for high-throughput and low-latency tasks, like agentic search and document processing. Google says it offers “significantly better quality than 3.1 Flash-Lite” from March, while pricing is $0.30/1M input tokens and $2.50/1M output tokens.

It’s a significant step up in coding and agentic tasks as seen in Terminal-Bench 2.1 (54% vs 31%), long context as seen in GDM-MRCR v2 (72.2% vs. 60.1%), and real-world task execution as seen in GDPval-AA v2 (1140 vs. 642).

Google notes that 3.5 Flash-Lite outperforms 3 Flash: SWE-Bench Pro (54.2% vs. 49.6%) and OSWorld-Verified (74.0% vs. 65.1%).

Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber

The final announcement today is Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber for finding and fixing security vulnerabilities. Flash serves as the foundation given its performance and efficiency, with the goal of detecting, validating, and patching “code security issues at scale” and at a “lower price per token than larger models.”

Google’s CodeMender tool uses multiple 3.5 Flash Cyber agents. Access is initially for governments and trusted partners “as part of a limited-access pilot program.”

This will give frontline defenders a head start in finding and fixing critical vulnerabilities before they can be exploited, while mitigating against broader misuse.

Availability

Gemini 3.6 Flash and 3.5 Flash-Lite are available today in the Gemini app, with the latter model also coming to Search. Developers can access them through Google Antigravity, AI Studio, and Android Studio.

Looking ahead, Google reiterates that “Gemini 3.5 Pro is currently testing with partners,” with broad availability “as soon as it’s ready.”

Meanwhile, the DeepMind team is “already focusing on building the next generation of models.”

We have already started our most ambitious pre-training run yet, for Gemini 4, and can’t wait to share more.

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Abner Li

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Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com

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