Leading market analyst Michael Pachter suggests that a new Nintendo handheld may be in the offing...

One of the game industry's leading analysts, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter, has suggested that Nintendo may have plans to unveil a new handheld this year. This follows Nintendo's Q1 financials yesterday, which revealed that DS sales were declining in Japan.

"It is likely that DS demand will continue to decline in Japan, and we think that Nintendo has a new handheld device ready for launch in that territory before the end of the calendar year," said Pachter, according to gi.biz.

Pachter also noted that the majority of this year's DS shipments are likely to end-up in the US and Europe, where the handheld console continues to enjoy strong sales figures:

"We think that the lion's share of the expected 28 million DS hardware units shipped during the fiscal year will land in the US and Europe, and we expect to see strong software sales in those territories."