I had the same thought... one firmware update release, and we are all back on a level playing field again (at least all of us Bitmain owners).  More likely, Bitmain will just create a new S9, using old stock with new firmware, and sell it as their V11 - advertising the 20% improvement in hashrate/watt.  Only trick would be to keep all S9 miners from reflashing using the V11 firmware...