A question about the R4 card for the Nintendo 3DS?

Hey so I'm considering buying a nintendo 3ds. I have an r4 card for my ds lite and i love it. I know that the 3ds cards dont play the 3ds roms just yet, but if I get a 3ds compatible r4 card this week and a 3ds, and the dev team figures out how to play the 3ds roms, will I need to buy a new r4 or will it be a firmware update?