For the past several months, we have been hearing some rumors surrounding the Nexus 7 release. Apparently, it is the Nexus 8 release date that is going to happen sometime this year.

In a report by BGR, DigiTimes reported that Google has been forced to work on the 8-inch slate due to the poor market performance of the Nexus 7 which was released last year. 

While there are people who are still waiting for the release of the 7-inch tablet, the report says the slate will most likely have a difficult time competing with other 7-inchers which have more affordable price tags. 

In contrast, the 8-inch category can be a cross between the usual 7-inch tablets and 10 inchers which flood the market today. 

In the same report, Google is apparently deciding whether to get a Trail Bay Atom processor or a Snapdragon 800 chipset. Both are tried and tested to be powerful, though Qualcomm's processor has been tested to perform better in mobile devices. 

The report also mentions that Asus may be tapped once more to work on the 8-inch Nexus, which may be launched by June or July this year.