Gemini 2.0 audio input 5x the cost, and 1.5-flash-002 to be discontinued?

Gemini 1.5-flash-002 is great in combination with input audio files. Gemini 2.0 is also good, but if I understand the pricing page correctly, is almost 5x the price (0.7ct vs 0.15ct). For high volumes this will have significant impact.

Do I understand that correctly? Are there any plans that will reduce this impact?

I’d be interested to hear if anyone else sees this as an issue, or were you able to get flash-lite to work for your purposes?