MiniMax Releases M3.1 Flash Model With 3x Speed, 70% Lower Price

The price and speed step-change matters less on its own than the identity reveal: a model that already handled over 200 trillion tokens anonymously was an early M3.1 Flash, meaning MiniMax is now attaching a public name—and a much cheaper one—to capacity that was already in circulation. That affects developers building on the Flash line and competitors whose pricing assumed this tier stayed expensive. Whether the anonymous-to-public transition converts into visible adoption, and how rivals respond on price, is the open question.