Looks like the FM3 and FM9 both got their last major update on August 17th, so 4 months ago. The big feature then was DynaCabs, and I'm sure we're all happy about that... So in calendar terms it hasn't been that long; it's just that it seems there's been a lot of significant updates for the III over that time frame...
Sometimes I wish Cliff would just step away from the source code and give the FM devs a chance to catch up. :-) And yet his relentless pursuit of perfection is such an inspiration....
My personal takeaway is that the next time I buy another Fractal will be the flagship model regardless of whether my guitar skillz justify it. :-)