Despite the fact that notebook brand vendors usually finish their request for quotation (RFQ) for notebook orders for next year before September, several vendors are currently still in the RFQ process for their 2016 notebook orders and may not finalize them until late October or November as Intel has delayed the launch of its new processors, while vendors are also lacking a direction of new device design, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

Some vendors may not even start their RFQ for notebook orders until the fourth quarter such as Dell, which is planning to begin the RFQ for its consumer notebooks in November and its enterprise notebooks will start RFQ in February 2016.

With Intel delaying the launch of its Skylake processors and Kaby Lake - which was originally scheduled to replace Skylake in 2016 - many vendors have delayed their RFQ process in order to match Intel's roadmap.

In addition, many vendors have delayed the process to observe competitors' design and innovations for product reference.

Because vendors' directions for new product designs are rather uncertain and have been changed frequently, it is bringing pressure to ODMs.