Google Gemini 4 Argon closes the gap with OpenAI and Anthropic but doesn't take a clear lead

Gemini 4 Argon is Google's first frontier model in over seven months. It matches GPT-6 Astra in independent testing but can't keep up with Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5. The per-token price is low, but Argon burns through more than twice as many tokens per task as Astra. Select testers get access first, with the API and paid tiers following later.