Does anyone know if Bluesound Node 2i Streamer/Dac is being updated soon.

The fact that Bluesound pushes out both app and firmware updates on a regular basis is why your Node 2i won't go outdated anytime soon. To illustrate their longevity, consider I gave Node N100's (the original) to my son, daughter, brother, and two friends over the years 2015 to just a few months ago. All are still in daily use. The only time 'obsolete' has occurred, it didn't actually happen so much as a feature was added to the new 'i' generation of products (like yours) which added a chip in the hardware that Apple required to make Airplay 2 work. That can't be done in the older units, but as long as there's one 'i'-generation unit in your home network, all the older players work with it. Yup, quite a bargain.

“I think it’s one of the best bargains“.  
I agree. Anyone serious about streaming, node 2i is a way to go under $1K price point. 

+1 @kenm10759 it's firmware updates that matter. My Auralic Aries Mini was discontinued a few years back but Auralic has said they will support firmware updates for another 5 years which seems fair.

Can the node 2i be run with a regular size smartphone without too much inconvenience, or is a larger screen required?

@jetter Depends how bad your eyes are! I run my Node 2 with an iPhone 7 every day without issue.