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Gemini 3.5 Pro is still missing a month after Google’s target
Google said Gemini 3.5 Pro would arrive in June after I/O 2026. As of July 17, the model still hasn’t launched amid rising pressure from rivals.
Image: Mashable
Google promised Gemini 3.5 Pro for June after unveiling Gemini 3.5 Flash at Google I/O 2026 in May. But as of July 17, the more capable model still has not appeared.
At a pre-Google I/O media briefing, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company was already using the model internally and expected a near-term release.
“We are also excited for 3.5 Pro. We are using it internally. It’s showing great improvements. We are still testing and refining it, and it will roll out to everyone next month.”
After a Bloomberg report by Julia Love and Davey Alba highlighted the delay, Mashable asked Google about the launch timeline. The company shared the same statement it provided to Bloomberg:
“We’re shipping quickly across a wide range of models while keeping them highly cost-effective for customers. We’re currently testing 3.5 Pro, an upgraded Flash model, and other models with partners, and we’re productively engaged with the U.S. government on model testing and broader frameworks.”
Bloomberg reported that the holdup has frustrated some Google engineers, AI researchers, and managers, who worry the company could lose ground to Anthropic and OpenAI. The report points to two main reasons: the bureaucracy that comes with Google’s size and product sprawl, and internal concerns that Gemini 3.5 Pro may not be competitive enough against newer rival models.
That pressure has only increased since I/O. Anthropic announced Claude Mythos Preview as its most advanced model, then released Fable 5 on June 9. OpenAI followed with GPT‑5.6 Sol on July 9. This week, China’s Moonshot released Kimi K3, an open-source model with 2.8 trillion parameters that early testers say approaches the capabilities of Fable 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol at a lower cost.
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According to Bloomberg, Meta has also shipped a model that outperforms Google Gemini. For Google, the risk is straightforward: every extra week raises the bar for a launch that was supposed to happen last month.
AI Editor
Ava covers the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, from foundational models and research labs to the real-world economics of intelligence. With a background in computational linguistics, she cuts through the hype to find out what actually works. She firmly believes that benchmarks are just marketing until reproduced in the wild.
via Mashable
