Google DeepMind Launches Three New Gemini Models, But Flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro Remains Absent

Google DeepMind released three new Gemini models on July 21 — Gemini 3.6 Flash, 3.5 Flash-Lite, and 3.5 Flash Cyber — but the anticipated update to the flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro was not among them. The last Pro model update came in February.

Gemini 3.6 Flash is positioned as Google's "workhorse model," delivering improved capabilities in coding, knowledge work, and multimodal performance while reducing token usage by up to 17%, making it cheaper than its predecessor. Google says the focus is on efficiency, latency, and reliability for customers building AI agents at scale.

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite is the most cost-effective model in the lineup, aimed at budget-sensitive deployments. Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber is a specialized model fine-tuned for finding and fixing cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and will be exclusively available to governments and trusted partners under a limited access pilot program, according to Google.

The conspicuous absence of Gemini 3.5 Pro has drawn attention. Google teased the Pro release alongside the 3.5 Flash launch in May, saying the model was already being used internally and would roll out in June. Last week, Bloomberg reported that internal delays had hit the Pro launch as Google struggled to meet performance goals.

Meanwhile, competitors have pressed ahead. OpenAI has released GPT-5.5 and begun rolling out GPT-5.6, while Anthropic has launched Claude Opus 4.8, Claude Sonnet 5, and expanded access to its frontier Fable 5 model — underscoring the intense release cadence across leading AI labs.

Google DeepMind product lead Logan Kilpatrick said Tuesday that Gemini 3.5 Pro is currently being tested with partners and the company hopes it will "land soon." He also noted that the team has started its most ambitious pre-training run yet for Gemini 4.

For developers in the Google AI ecosystem, the three new Flash models offer more cost-effective and specialized choices, but the prolonged absence of a flagship Pro model could impact Google's competitive position in high-end AI reasoning.