Google’s Gemini 3.5 Pro delayed; Performance falls short of expectations

Google has delayed the release of its flagship Gemini 3.5 Pro AI model. The Mountain View tech giant previewed the model at Google I/O 2026 in May and announced that the Pro versions would launch in June 2026; now the timeline has passed, and the model is still not available to Gemini users.

Why Google delayed the Gemini 3.5 Pro model launch?

According to a Bloomberg report, Google is reportedly making improvements to its capabilities as it has not met expectations yet. It was highlighted that the Gemini 3.5 Pro model falls short in coding performance, which helps users write, understand, and debug code. 

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In late June, Google reportedly updated its training data to fine-tune the model with more programming-related examples. However, it didn't improve the model performance as expected. Now, the company is reportedly back in development and restarting its training process, which is causing the delay in launch.

In a statement, Google said that they are “currently testing 3.5 Pro, an upgraded Flash model, and other models with partners. We’re shipping quickly across a wide range of models while keeping them highly cost-effective for customers.”

With the delay of the Gemini 3.5 Pro model, the stock price of Alphabet, Google's parent company, fell by about 4% during July 16 trading. Therefore, the delay may have a broader impact on the company as its rivals have released new-generation AI models with impressive upgrades. 

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Recently, OpenAI released GPT 5.6 Sol, which is said to be 54% more token efficient on agentic coding tasks. Anthropic has also released Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 after government checks, showing that Google is facing increasing pressure to deliver a competitive next-generation AI model.

As of now, Google has not provided a timeline for the Gemini 3.5 Pro model release, but we may not expect the model to be released until further improvements are made to its overall capabilities.