Global shipments of personal computers (PCs) have hit a five-year low, according to new figures from the research firm Gartner.
Shipments totalled 80.3m units in the three months to September, down 8.6% from a year ago.
PC sales have now fallen for six quarters in a row, hurt by the growing popularity of tablets and smartphones.
Gartner said falling prices of tablets had further hurt sales of PCs in emerging markets.
"Consumers' shift from PCs to tablets for daily content consumption continued to decrease the installed base of PCs both in mature as well as in emerging markets," Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner,said in a statement.
"A greater availability of inexpensive Android tablets attracted first-time consumers in emerging markets, and as supplementary devices in mature markets."
Source: BBC
