Google’s Gemini 3.5 Flash is now generally available, and it’s already the default model in the Gemini app and in AI Mode in Google Search. Google introduced it at I/O 2026, with API pricing reported around $1.50 per million input tokens and $9.00 per million output tokens.
The bigger one is still coming: Gemini 3.5 Pro. On stage, CEO Sundar Pichai effectively asked for patience — “give us until next month” — positioning the Pro tier as Google’s frontier answer to OpenAI and Anthropic.
Why it matters
Flash models are about cheap, fast, “good‑enough” intelligence at scale — exactly what powers search summaries and high‑volume app features. Making 3.5 Flash the default across Google’s biggest surfaces puts capable AI in front of billions of people by default, and resets the price‑to‑performance bar everyone else is measured against.
If you’re choosing between the big assistants for everyday work, our tested comparison of ChatGPT vs Gemini breaks down where each wins on writing, research and price — and our wider guide to the best AI chatbots ranks the whole field.
Source: Google I/O 2026 (via LLM-Stats).
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