PC market still hurting Despite in United States and Western Europe.

SAN FRANCISCO. The PC market is still in trouble, despite some signs of recovery in several key markets.

PC sales in the third quarter soared in the United States and Western Europe. However, they kept falling in China, Japan and other Asian countries, where most people see tablets and smartphones seemed little reason to buy laptops and desktop computers.

PC market

These two disparate scenarios are reflected in two separate studies released Wednesday by research firm International Data Corp. and Gartner Inc.

IDC estimated that PC shipments in the three months to September totaled 78.5 million units, down 2% from last year. Gartner estimated worldwide sales at 79.4 million units, less than 1% below last year.

It is the ninth decline in global PC shipments recorded in the last 10 quarters, a drop driven by the growing popularity of mobile devices to work, entertainment, information and communications.

The decline has begun to slow now that most people who wanted and could afford a tablet already has, especially in the United States. This phenomenon has damaged Apple Inc, which saw shipments of iPad down 13% in the first half of the year.

"The attention of consumers is becoming slowly toward purchases of PCs," said Mikako Kitagawa, a Gartner analyst.