I also want to feel the frontier Gemini users are starting to think that Gemini Pro 4 wont ever see the light of day thanks to the release of ChatGPT
6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1

Date:
Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:33:09 +0000

Description:
The arrival of ChatGPT 6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 has Gemini users
wondering whether Google will ever release Gemini 4 Pro, and whether its AI strategy has lost its way

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Being a devoted Gemini user seems to require a peculiar combination of loyalty, patience, and an
unusually high tolerance for the word Flash.

That patience is being tested again. Anthropic released Claude Fable 5.1 last week, bringing significant improvements to its model lineup. OpenAI followed with GPT-6 Astra , its new frontier model designed to operate software,
tackle complicated multi-step jobs, and work with considerably less human supervision. Over in the Gemini community, meanwhile, some users are staring at their model picker and wondering when Google is going to join the party. The increasingly nervous focus is Gemini 4 Pro, the presumed next major frontier model from Google, and whether the company will actually release it at all. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

Google has not announced that Gemini 4 Pro has been canceled, and the increasingly elaborate theories circulating on Reddit should be treated as exactly that: theories. Still, the mood is revealing. One r/Bard post jokes that Astra's arrival means Gemini 4 Pro will now be canceled while everyone waits for Gemini 4.5 Pro instead, and the thread title predicts Google will decide 4 Pro is no longer competitive enough and return to releasing Flash models. Awaiting the new Gemini (Image credit: Shutterstock/mundissima) "I also want to feel the frontier," one Reddit thread begins, with plenty of sympathetic agreement from others. "Google doesn't have enough talent
anymore, and most of its compute is reserved for Apple Intelligence and
Google Search AI Mode," one user posted in response. You may like I gave Gemini 3.6 Flash and GPT-5.6 access to my entire digital life ChatGPT market share falls below 50% for first time Android users express frustration as Google Assistant is replaced by Gemini

The frustration makes more sense when you look at what Gemini users can see happening elsewhere.

Anthropic calls Fable 5.1 one of its most advanced models for coding and knowledge work, with improvements aimed at long-running tasks and research. The model has a one-million-token context window and 128,000-token maximum output, while Anthropic has also made cache reads dramatically cheaper. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Then there is Astra. OpenAI describes GPT-6 Astra as its most intelligent model yet, with an emphasis on computer use, coding, and completing complex work across multiple steps. The important part for ordinary enthusiasts is that OpenAI says Astra is rolling into ChatGPT, including access through Plus in Work and Codex as rollout progresses.

Gemini users want their turn.

Another Reddit thread is literally titled I envy them too, but most of the comments there are pushing back against the idea that Gemini's current model is useless. "Just keep all three subs, best way to play," one post argues. What to read next I asked Gemini and ChatGPT to build OpenAI's mythical AI gadget Google just undercut OpenAI with a $4.99 Gemini plan heres what you get I tried to test Chinas newest ChatGPT rival but couldnt get in

Still, that misses something about why people become attached to these platforms. Gemini comes with Google's wider ecosystem, Android integration, and tools such as NotebookLM . As one Reddit commenter put it when told to subscribe elsewhere, Gemini is cooler, has more tools, NotebookLM, it's
better integrated in Android, etc. Switching models is easy. Switching ecosystems is less so. Gemini Flash again? There's a running joke is that Google will respond to all this impatience by releasing another Flash model. Google has continued iterating rapidly on its faster Gemini models, and the current Reddit discussion is full of references to Gemini 3.7 Flash and 3.8 Flash.

In the thread speculating about Gemini 4 Pro's fate, one commenter imagines Google announcing, We have started our most ambitious pre-training run yet, for Gemini 4.5, while another delivers the punchline : Here's another few Flash models. A less amused commenter writes that DeepMind has lost the initiative and its famous confidence.

This is not really a fight over whether Gemini 3.8 Flash is good. Some users think it is excellent. Multiple commenters argued that Gemini remains highly competitive on price and performance and wins when it comes to coding.

The feat is that, after years of seeming to have an AI advantage, Google has squandered it. When Gemini looks like it is following OpenAI and Anthropic rather than forcing them to respond, its most enthusiastic users notice.

Of course, whether Google even wants the same victory its Reddit fans want is debatable. A cheaper, faster model embedded across Search, Android, Workspace and countless other services could ultimately be much more valuable than topping a frontier benchmark for a few months. For Google shareholders, that could be wonderfully sensible. For the person refreshing the Gemini model picker while Claude and ChatGPT users play with their new frontier models, it is rather less exciting. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. The best business laptops for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/i-also-want-to-feel-the-fron tier-gemini-users-are-starting-to-think-that-gemini-pro-4-wont-ever-see-the-li ght-of-day-thanks-to-the-release-of-chatgpt-6-astra-and-claude-fable-5-1


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