Gemini 3.6 Flash is 2x faster and 18% cheaper, but independent tests say it is not smarter
etherd0t · reddit · 2026-07-22
Google’s Gemini 3.6 Flash is being described as faster and cheaper, but not smarter.
- The model is said to be about 2× faster and 18% cheaper than its predecessor.
- Independent testing reportedly found no intelligence improvement over Gemini 3.5 Flash.
- Abacus saw a slight overall drop and a noticeable regression in agentic coding.
- Artificial Analysis found overall intelligence unchanged, with mixed category movement.
- Google’s own framing emphasizes efficiency gains and selected coding/agent benchmark improvements.
Related event: Gemini 3.6 Flash Review: Faster and Cheaper, But Not Smarter(16 posts)→
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