Google unveils Nano Banana 2 Lite with 4-second AI image generation
Google has introduced Nano Banana 2 Lite, a new AI image generation model that can generate images in around four seconds. The company has also expanded access to Gemini Omni Flash, enabling developers to build AI-powered image-to-video workflows.
Published By: Deepti Ratnam | Published: Jul 01, 2026, 09:38 AM (IST)
In this AI competition, Google has launched a new AI model called Nano Banana 2 Lite, offering users option to create images from text prompts in just 4 seconds. According to the company, its new model is fastest as well as most affordable models in its Nano Banana image generation lineup. Hence, this makes it one of the most suitable options for developers who are looking to generate large volumes of AI images quickly that too at a lower cost.
Besides Nano Banana 2 Lite, Google is also expanding the availability of its Gemini Omni Flash, company's multimodal AI model. It supports video generation along with offering conversational editing. Both the models are aimed at helping developers build complete AI content creation workflows. This includes generating images and creating short videos.
Nano Banana 2 Lite features
This Nano Banana 2 Lite, gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image, is optimized for creative work where speed and minimal operating costs are a more significant factor than any sophisticated reasoning.
Google states it's best suited for rapid prototyping, brainstorming visual ideas, creating an abundance of pictures and other high volume workloads. It is also the company's preferred replacement for the previous gemini-2.5-flash-image model.
The speed is one of the biggest highlights of the new model. Google claims Nano Banana 2 Lite can produce text-to-image results in about four seconds, enabling developers to make more iterations in creative projects.
Price
Google has offered Nano Banana 2 Lite at $0.034/1K resolution images - it is the lowest cost image generation model in the Nano Banana portfolio.
The model is also designed to be fast, according to Google, which is one of the areas that AI image generators haven't been particularly good at.While optimized for speed, Google claims the model ensures prompt adherence, consistent characters across multiple images and readable text within images it creates.
What Nano Banana lineup offers
Google has also provided an update on the role of Nano Banana 2 Lite in their overall AI imaging portfolio.
Nano Banana 2 Lite is intended for fast generation of high volume of images, Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) is designed for general purpose high quality, speed and low cost image generation.
Although image generation takes longer, Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image) is designed for more advanced creative tasks, offering increased reasoning, precision and creative control for professional users.
Availability
Now available through Google AI Studio, the Gemini API and the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform
Google is also introducing the model to various consumer services such as AI Mode on Search, the Gemini app, the NotebookLM, Google Photos, Google Flow, Stitch and Google Ads.
Gemini Omni Flash
Talking about the Gemini Omni Flash, it is available to developers in public preview via Google's AI Studio and the Gemini API.
This multimodal model is capable of generating and editing videos using video, images, and text as inputs. As per Google, users will be able to refine their videos using natural language prompts. However, it still maintains consistency across multiple edits.
Additionally, the model also supports multimodal referencing, hence allowing creators to combine videos, text, and images. This way they will achieve more accurate AI-generated result.
Gemini Omni Flash is priced at $0.10 per second of generated video, this is the same cost of Veo 3.1 Fast.
Currently, the model supports video generation of up to 10 seconds. As per the tech giant, the support for audio reference uploads, improved handling of short videos, support for longer videos, and scene extension will be added in future updates.
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