Dell suffered as the global PC industry has slowed.

Acer's position in the global PC market has consistently weakened since its market share peaked in 2009.

However, as global PC sales decline, the company has aggressively expanded into smartphones and other mobile products.

The perennial runner-up to Intel in the multibillion-dollar global PC microprocessor market recently started shipping its Llano chips.

In 2011, Acer was ranked fourth for global PC sales although it maintained second position status for notebook sales.

Dell has struggled to deal with a declining global PC market, which is reeling as tablets gain in popularity.

In May, Gartner predicted a 22 percent growth of global PC sales for 2010.

Global PC shipments fell 10 percent last year, the worst annual drop since research firm Gartner began tracking them.

Meanwhile, analysts expect Microsoft to miss profit expectations in its first-quarter results, hurt by a decline in global PC shipments.

Taiwanese contract laptop PC maker Compal Electronics Inc 2324.TW is revising up its forecast for total global PC shipments this year.

The company's share of global PC shipments slipped below 14 per cent in the calendar third quarter, according to industry tracker IDC.

Michael Dell returned as CEO of his company four months later, shortly after HP wrested the top spot in the global PC market.

Major headwinds for Samsung in 2012 include slowing growth in global PC sales, which will dent sales of its core computer memory chips.

According to research firm IDC, global PC shipments fell by a smaller-than-expected 3.9 percent in the third quarter.

Gartner on Wednesday said it expects global PC shipments to rise 22 percent this year to 376.6 million units.

According to data from market research firm IDC, global PC shipments fell another 8.6 percent in the third quarter.