I have it from a reputable source that the reason stuff doesn't get smaller in the future is it's too easy for humans to set your 1" X 1" tricorder down and forget where you laid it.
And because no one has pockets in their uniforms there is no place to put your stuff.
So 85 Psychiatrists, 32 Behavioral Scientists, and 168 Engineers, in a study that lasted 8 years, concluded that no piece of equipment aboard a Star Ship would be smaller than a tribble. It only makes sense because you know how hard it was to lose one of those.