Is there any model available (or planned) in the asia-south1 region on Vertex AI that is more capable than Gemini 2.5 Flash?

Google AI Studio
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Hi everyone,

I’m currently using Gemini 2.5 Flash via Vertex AI in the asia-south1 region.

I wanted to ask if there are any models available (or planned) in asia-south1 that are superior to Gemini 2.5 Flash, particularly for better reasoning or overall capability (for example something like Gemini Pro or other higher-tier models).

From what I can see in the documentation, Gemini 2.5 Flash is available in asia-south1, but I’m not sure if stronger models (e.g., Gemini 2.5 Pro or other newer models) are currently supported in that region or if they are planned soon.

If anyone has information about:

  • More capable models available in asia-south1

  • Upcoming model support for this region

  • Recommended alternatives when constrained to asia-south1

I’d really appreciate the guidance.

Thanks!

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Retiring 2.5 Flash will be such a massive loss. It’s the only low latency model that is deployed in Australia. I’m able to get 300-400ms completions from 2.5 Flash, making it suitable for voice agents.

3.5 Flash offers 600-700ms completions and doesn’t even get an Australian deployment, so the actual latency is closer to 700-800ms, completely breaking the voice agent use case.

There is honestly no other model deployed in this part of the world that comes close to the quality that 2.5 Flash offers for low latency applications.