Canalys had a more upbeat look at the PC market, however. The company said in a report Wednesday that, when tablets are included, total shipments of PCs increased in the third quarter by 18 percent year over year. User enthusiasm over tablets is a double-edged sword for vendors, though.

"The proliferation of pads drove overall PC market expansion, though the form factor continued to disrupt traditional desktop, notebook and, in particular, netbook sales," in the report.

Total tablet shipments were almost three times as many in the third quarter compared to the same period a year ago, while notebook shipments increased 9 percent and desktop shipments jumped 8 percent. The big losers were netbooks, which declined 28 percent year over year in terms of shipments, Canalys said.

Apple's iPad shipments were up 166 percent, though its share of the worldwide market fell to 67 percent in the third quarter from 96 percent a year earlier due to competition from vendors such as Samsung, Asus and Acer, Canalys said.

Meanwhile, the delay of the updated Apple iPhone caused third-quarter smartphone numbers to come in a little lower than expected. IDC said the worldwide smartphone market increased 42.6 percent year over year in the third quarter, though there was a slowdown within key mature markets. IDC said vendors shipped 118.1 million units in the third quarter. However, the 42.6 percent growth was lower than IDC's forecast of 49.1 percent for the quarter.