Key Highlights:
- According to a new report, Google is gearing up for the launch of Nano Banana 2 Flash, which will reprtedly be powered by Gemini 3 Flash.
- As with “Flash” models, the upcoming image generation model will be affordable, but it delivers nearly similar image quality as the Nano Banana Pro model.
- The company could launch the model in the coming weeks.
After a successful launch of the Gemini 3 Pro-powered Nano Banana Pro, Google appears to be gearing up for the launch of Nano Banana 2 Flash. The upcoming image generation model will likely be powered by the Gemini 3 Flash model. According to code references, the new model is internally called “Mayo.”
Nano Banana 2 Flash to come with almost similar image generation power as the “Pro”
Citing details shared by early testers of Nano Banana 2 Flash, TestingCatalog reports that the image quality is almost similar to what Nano Banana 2 Pro is capable of generating. As seen in the cited post on X, responses from both versions are nearly indistinguishable. While Google’s “Flash”-tagged model is generally considered to be affordable, the company isn’t looking to compromise on image quality.
If confirmed, the Flash variant could significantly expand access to Nano Banana 2 by offering Pro-like performance with far more efficient compute usage. Content creators and AI researchers have already shared early clips and screenshots showcasing the model’s 4K output and general reasoning quality.
Posts from X accounts such as @MarsForTech and @Liam06972452 highlight that the new variant is “cheaper and faster,” running on Gemini 3 Flash rather than the more expensive Gemini 3 Pro, which powers the Nano Banana Pro. Do note that Flash models are optimized for speed and cost efficiency. And by bringing the Gemini 3 Flash-powered Nano Banana 2 Flash, Google appears to be catering to developers, platforms, and organizations that need massive deployment scale without absorbing premium API costs.
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Google could release the image model this month
As reported, references to Nano Banana 2 Flash and its Mayo codename have been spotted in code, which hints at an imminent launch. It’s important to mention that Gemini 3 Flash itself recently surfaced on LM Arena, suggesting that the product family is about to expand. Speaking of new models, OpenAI is also reportedly fast-tracking GPT-5.2 today, and if reports are accurate, it should land anytime. This comes after Sam Altman announced a company-wide “code red” call to focus on their model after Google’s recently launched Gemini 3 Pro beat OpenAI’s model in multiple benchmarks.
