According to research firm Gartner, the global PC shipments have declined by 4.9 percent in Q4 2012 as compared to the same quarter in 2011. The Q4 2012 saw shipments totalling 90.3 million units. The research firm also noted Microsoft’s latest Windows 8 OS failed to kick-start the PC market.

Gartner further says growing popularity of the tablets have slowed down PC demand across the world. “Tablets have dramatically changed the device landscape for PCs, not so much by ‘cannibalizing’ PC sales, but by causing PC users to shift consumption to tablets rather than replacing older PCs,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.

"The disenfranchised PCs are those with lighter configurations, which mean that we should see an increase in PC average selling prices (ASPs) as users replace machines used for richer applications, rather than for consumption.”

HP is rated as the top computer maker in the industry with 16.2 percent market share. Lenovo has the second spot with 15.5 percent of the market whereas Dell has at the third position with 10.2 percent. Rounding out the top five are Acer with 9.5 percent of the market and Asus with 7.2 percent. 

Gartner also noted that Microsoft’s latest Windows 8 didn't have much impact on PC shipments in the fourth quarter. According to analysts, “some PC vendors offered somewhat lackluster form factors in their Windows 8 offerings and missed the excitement of touch. New products are coming to market, and this could drive churn within the installed base.”