On October 6, Google released Nano Banana 2.1, the latest version of its image generation and editing model. The update is rolling out across the Gemini app, Search's AI Mode, Google Ads, and developer tools including Google AI Studio, Flow, and Stitch. Developer documentation lists it as generally available.

The headline upgrades are output up to 4K resolution with aspect ratios as wide as 8:1, multi-image fusion across up to 14 reference images with character consistency for up to four characters and fidelity for ten objects, and grounding in Google Search and Image Search so the model can fact-check real-world details before rendering. Google claims 1,050 ELO in text-to-image preference tests versus 990 for Nano Banana 2 — its own numbers, not independently verified.

The practical news for developers: API pricing is roughly halved to $0.0336 per standard 1K image (down from $0.067), $0.0756 for 4K, with batch jobs getting another 50% off. Google is also deprecating the older gemini-3.1-flash-image model, with the earliest listed shutdown on October 29 — teams still on it need to migrate their code before then.