"They would need to fundamentally change their business model in emerging regions and use HP's massive R&D arm to develop relevant differentiation," Moorhead said. "Let's not forget that HP is the most profitable PC company out there. It's pretty easy to buy market share, but it's a lot more difficult to profitably grow it."

While today's reports weren't great news for HP, it's also a tough one for the entire PC market.

According to Gartner, worldwide PC shipments sank 8.3% year over year, with a total of 87.5 million units shipped in the third quarter of 2012. IDC shows the global market dropping 8.6%.

The PC industry has been battered for several quarters now by a sluggish economy, as well as consumers and enterprises putting off replacing their desktops and laptops in lieu of buying new tablets and smartphones.

Now Gartner said the upcoming release of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system also seems to have been a problem for third-quarter PC sales.