SportIdent have just announced that future control unit (firmware ?) updates will no longer support SI card types 5 & 6, but there is no indication of when the next update will be, so we do not yet know how long before this takes effect.
Click the link below for details :
SPORTident - End of life for SI-Card5 and SI-Card6
Clarification from SI headquarters in Germany : "... there is no planned firmware update for BSF7, BSF8 or BSF9 stations any time soon. This means that the warning about support for SI-Card 5/6 is a precautionary warning. "
... so there is no need to rush to replace your type 5 or type 6 card anytime soon, or until there is a further announcement.