Apple is following the Android "big is beautiful" trend with the next batch of iDevice launches the Wall Street Journal reports-- supplier officials claim the company is testing larger iPhone and iPad displays.

According to unnamed sources Apple already tested out a smartphone display "larger than 4-inches" and asked for tablet screen designs "measuring slightly less than 13-inches."

The WSJ sources also say Apple will release a new iPad featuring a lighter and thinner display integrating touch sensors with a thin film instead of the glass found in current iPads, and a less expensive iPhone with nonmetal, multi-colour casing.

For the record, the iPhone 5 features a 4-inch display, while the iPad and iPad mini are 9.7-inch and 7.9-inch.

As the notebook market faces a dismal 2013 (following annus orribilis 2012) NPD says one device category actually shows growth-- Chromebooks, whose US sub-$300 notebook market share is up to 20-25% over the last 8 months.

According to IHS 2013 is set to be a second consecutive year of decline for the notebook market, even the analyst says powerful yet affordable models carrying AMD (Temash) and Intel (Bay Trail) processors might "save the market." The analyst however fails to give mention of the Google-powered alternative.

“While we were skeptical initially, I think Chromebooks definitely have found a niche in the marketplace,” NPD tells Bloomberg. “The entire computing ecosystem is undergoing some radical change, and I think Google has its part in that change.”

The main driver behind the growth of Chromebooks is, as one can expect price-- Chromebook model (from Acer, Samsung, HP, Lenovo and Google itself) prices start at around $199 and peak at $300, making them more attractive to customer wallets than relatively overpriced ultrabooks.

According to The Verge and the Naver Cafe online forum Nokia was set to release a Windows RT tablet on Q4 2013-- a device the company has allegedly cancelled in favour of a Windows 8.1 version.

The Korean forum shows what looks like a 10-inch tablet complete with what the poster says is a magnetic connector similar to those found in Apple MacBooks and Microsoft's own Surface.

The prototype supposedly carries an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, USB and HDMI ports, SIM slot (with 4G/LTE support) and 3.5mm headphone jack. It also features "Nvidia P1001" as a product number-- perhaps proof of the device's status as a prototype.

Eye tracking developer Tobii and human interface solutions maker Synaptics join forces with a prototype laptop integrating a Synaptics ForcePad touchpad and Tobii Gaze technology.

“This is an extremely exciting time in the evolution of human computing," Synaptics says. "The combination of gaze and touch literally redefines the human computer interface for notebook and desktop PC users, who want the ultimate intuitive computer experience.”

Based on the Ultrabook standard, the prototype acts as a preview for how one can combine eye tracking with touch-based interfaces, in this case the pressure-sensitive ForcePad touchpad.

Huawei plans to roll tablet, smartphone and entertainment centre into a single device with the MediaPad 7 Vogue-- a 7-inch tablet with "a built-in receiver for direct calling capabilities that remove the need for headphones."

That sounds rather fine, until you remember a 7-inch device might not be the most comfortable (or non-silly looking) to put against one's face...

Otherwise the tablet sounds like most other Android 4.1 tablets, with a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, 16-core GPU, 1024x600 display, a battery promisng 20 hours of continuous calling and a variety of pre-loaded apps (such as Facebook, YouTube, GPS, email and word processing) inside an aluminium unibody 9.5mm thick.

Samsung announces a pair of tablets and a camera as its device ranks grow increasingly huge-- the ATIV Q tablet-notebook hybrid, the ATIV Tab 3 Windows 8 tablet and the Galaxy NX internet-enabled camera.

The more interesting of the lot is the ATIV Q, a "fully convertible device" offering 4 different configuration (laptop, tablet and 2 in-between modes) running on either Windows 7 or Android Jelly Bean (4.2.2).

It features a 13.3-inch 3200x1800 resolution (275ppi) display, an Intel Core i5 processor and 128GB SSD storage, all inside a case weighing 1.29kg and 13.9mm thick.

Samsung claims the battery powers up to 9 hours of usage.

Russian tablet maker Wexler launches one of the first tablets running on Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 4 chipset-- the Wexler.Terra, to be available in either 7- or 10-inch sizes.

Running on Android 4.2.2, the Wexler.Terra features IPS multitouch displays covered in scratch-resistant tempered glass handling resolutions of either 1440x900 (7-inch) or 1920x1200 (10-inch), as well as either 16, 32 or 64GB of built-in storage.

“After detailed analysis of the market, we came to the conclusion that users need affordable yet powerful devices," Wexler says. "We used the most advanced technology and design, but it kept the cost of the devices at an affordable level."

Sony presents a second take on the sliding Windows 8 tablet-notebook hybrid with the Vaio Duo 13, a 13.3-inch sequel to the 2012 Vaio Duo 11.

Reportedly an improvement on the previous model, the Vaio Duo 13 features a new carbon fibre design together with a superior "Surf Slider" hinge, 1920x1080 resolution IPS display (with Triluminos technology from Sony Bravia TVs) and digitiser stylus input.

Specifications include a 1.6GHz Core i5 Haswell processor, 4GB RAM, integrated graphics, 128GB SSD and 6320mAh battery. Unusually for such a device it also features a rear-facing 8MP camera complete with Exmor RS sensor.