With the exception of Apple and Lenovo, other branded notebook vendors are reportedly cutting their orders to ODMs by 5-10% for the fourth quarter of 2011 after combined shipments from ODMs posted a 6% sequential growth in the third quarter, according to industry sources.

Previously, most ODMs enjoyed an over 20% sequential growth in notebook shipments in the third quarter, the sources noted.

Quanta Computer shipped about five million notebooks each in August and September, indicating that the company's shipment momentum for notebooks has disappeared, said the sources.

Compal Electronics shipped 3.4 million notebooks in September, up only 6.3% from the previous month.

However, shipments of Apple's MacBook Air and iMac lineups from ODMs have been strong recently, likely to exceed two million units a month during the September-November period, the sources indicated.