Notebook brand vendors have turned cautious about revealing their new products' industrial designs for next-generation Windows as they are concerned that Microsoft may use their designs for the benefit of its new Surface products, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

The sources noted that the brand vendors have already lost their trust in Microsoft and the software giant's strategy of pushing Surface tablets is starting to impact itself.

Although Microsoft only had sales of about 1.5 million Surface tablets so far, the company continues to expand into the retail channel with its branded products and has even established an online store for ordering the devices.

To avoid from design leakage, many brand vendors have hidden their important designs and will only showcase the prototype of the new mobile devices during Computex 2013 to minimize the risk.