Google just dropped Nano Banana 2 — an upgrade to the AI image generator that broke the internet last year and is now getting faster, smarter, and a lot more capable.

HOW WE GOT HERE

When Google launched the original Nano Banana in August 2025, it took off almost immediately — pulling in 13 million first-time Gemini users in just four days and generating over 5 billion images by October.

Google followed up with Nano Banana Pro in November, which prioritized quality over speed. Nano Banana 2 is the best of both — faster generation without sacrificing the sharper, more detailed outputs users expect from the Pro version.

WHAT'S NEW

The upgrade isn't just cosmetic. Nano Banana 2 pulls real-time information from the web through Gemini, meaning it has a much better handle on current events and real-world references when generating images.

It can now keep up to five characters looking consistent across different scenes — a notoriously tricky problem for AI image tools. Text rendering is also improved, making it more useful for marketing mockups, ads, and branded content.

The new model becomes the default across Gemini, Google Search's AI Mode, and even Google Ads — putting it in front of a lot more people than just power users.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The AI image space is getting crowded fast, with OpenAI, Adobe, and ByteDance all pushing their own tools. Google's answer is to make its most popular one faster and smarter — and put it everywhere. At 5 billion images and counting, it's a pretty good foundation to build on.