White PS3 heading Stateside?

Sony announced that its new 40GB PlayStation 3 model would be coming to Japan back in October, along with a brand new "ceramic white" colour. Although the company said at the time that it had no immediate plans to bring the new colour to other regions, a new set of filings on the US Federal Communications Commission's Web site show pictures of the new model.

In Japan, the launch of the new 40GB SKU--which is also the cheapest PS3 model at 39,980 yen (approx $341)--saw PS3 hardware sales surge, and the console even outselling the Wii.

Analysts also stated that Sony had managed to halve the cost of manufacturing the PS3 since it first went on sale, down from $800 to $400, meaning that is likely that the new version of the machine, which comes with fewer USB ports and no backward compatibility, costs significantly less to make.

[UPDATE]: A Sony Computer Entertainment America representative responded to GameSpot's request for comment with the following: "As you may know, there are many FCC filings like this each year. We haven't made any announcements about upcoming PS3 plans, but are comfortable with our current two SKU strategy. We are continually evaluating the market trends and consumer input to determine the appropriate PS3 models for our territory."