On 2026-10-05 community screenshots and first-hand checks showed Nano Banana 2.1 already selectable in the Google Flow model picker — a silent product-side rollout with no Google announcement yet. Google then officially shipped it on 2026-10-06 and marked it GA in the Gemini API as gemini-nano-banana-2.1. Full specs, pricing (about half the prior 1K/2K per-image rates), and human-eval Elo 1050 are in our official GA brief: [Google officially ships Nano Banana 2.1](/news/news-20261007-google-nano-banana-2-1-ga-gemini-api-half-price).
Key Takeaways
- ✓Status update: the silent Flow picker sighting is now confirmed by Google GA — full write-up: [official GA brief](/news/news-20261007-google-nano-banana-2-1-ga-gemini-api-half-price) (API ID
gemini-nano-banana-2.1) - ✓Official highlights (from the GA brief/docs only — do not invent): ~half prior 1K/2K per-image price; human-eval T2I Elo 1050 (vs Nano Banana 2 at 990 and Pro at 935)
- ✓Where to try: Google Flow model dropdown still lists Nano Banana 2.1; API / AI Studio use
gemini-nano-banana-2.1 - ✓Migration: old ID
gemini-3.1-flash-imageis deprecated (no shutdown date yet); see model docs - ✓Early evidence: thtbee_ Flow screenshot showed Pro / 2 Lite / 2.1 side by side
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Core Background & Industry Pain Points
Google's Nano Banana line (Gemini-native image generation) already spans Flow, the Gemini app, and the API. Starting around 2026-10-05, community screenshots showed Nano Banana 2.1 in the Google Flow model picker alongside Nano Banana Pro and Nano Banana 2 Lite; first-hand checks confirmed it was selectable and usable. At the time this was a silent product-side rollout — Google had published no blog post and no API model ID.
Later confirmation: on 2026-10-06 Google officially shipped Nano Banana 2.1 and marked it GA in the Gemini API changelog as gemini-nano-banana-2.1. Full specs, pricing, and scores live in our official GA brief: Google officially ships Nano Banana 2.1 (gemini-nano-banana-2.1) GA: 1K/2K images now half the price of Nano Banana 2, and human-eval Elo 1050 beats Nano Banana Pro (id news-20261007-google-nano-banana-2-1-ga-gemini-api-half-price).
Architecture Highlights & Internals
During the silent phase Google disclosed no architecture deltas for 2.1. After GA, public materials describe it as a Gemini 3.6 Flash–based native multimodal image model. Treat API endpoints, resolution tiers, and multi-reference limits as documented in the Gemini Nano Banana 2.1 model page and model card.
Authoritative Benchmarks & Measured Scores
Our silent-rollout brief intentionally invented no Arena or pricing numbers. The GA brief and DeepMind model card report human-eval text-to-image Elo 1050 (Nano Banana 2: 990; Nano Banana Pro: 935), with 1K/2K per-image prices about half the prior rates. Full Elo breakdowns and pricing tables belong in the official GA article and Google docs — this article adds none.
Developer Hands-on Guide
- Flow: open labs.google/flow, pick Nano Banana 2.1 from the model dropdown (early clue: thtbee_ screenshot).
- API / AI Studio: use official ID
gemini-nano-banana-2.1; old IDgemini-3.1-flash-imageis deprecated (no shutdown date yet). Docs: model page, changelog, pricing. - Production migration and cost math (text-side price ups, Batch discounts, no function calling, etc.) follow the official GA deep brief only.
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