Google launched three new Gemini models—Gemini 3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite, and Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber—one day before Alphabet's earnings report, focusing on improving operational efficiency in complex agentic workflows and reducing token consumption. The new Flash series prioritizes efficiency over absolute performance, with Gemini 3.6 Flash reducing average output token consumption by 17% compared to its predecessor and up to 65% in some scenarios compared to 3.5 Flash. Its input price is $1.50 per million tokens, and output price is reduced from $9 to $7.5 per million tokens. In benchmark performance, Gemini 3.6 Flash lags behind Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 5, OpenAI's GPT-5.6, and xAI's Grok 4.5 in key areas, including agentic coding. The releases follow a week of new models from xAI, OpenAI, and Moonshot AI, while Anthropic's Fable 5 topped multiple leaderboards.