Nintendo has designed a new version of the DSi, this one featuring larger screens, a Japanese publication has claimed.

The usually reliable Nikkei said that the new DSi will have two 4in screens, putting the handheld console's panels to bring it closer to the PlayStation Portable 3000’s 4.3in display.

That said, the update appears targeted more at Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone than Sony's handheld, which has a smaller user base in Japan than the Nintendo device does.

Little else is known about the rumoured update. However, it’s thought Nintendo could launch the machine as an alternative to the existing DSi – which has two 3.2in screens – in Japan later this year.

Quite how Nintendo sees ever-so-slightly larger screens improving the DSi’s appeal is unclear. But Hiroshi Kamide, an analyst at KBC Securities, told Reuters that “a bigger screen alone does not count for much”. ®