Google releases Gemini 3.5 Flash, Pro delayed to late July

Google announced the Gemini 3.5 series at I/O 2026. Flash went live in early July and became the default model for Gemini apps and AI Mode, with output 4x faster than other frontier models. Gemini 3.5 Pro, originally scheduled for June, has been internally delayed to late July according to insider sources, and remains in internal testing and enterprise preview, positioning it as a direct competitor to GPT-5.6 and Claude Opus 4.8.