Apotheker last month also committed $10 billion to buying Autonomy, an information management software vendor, and has outlined an extensive cloud services strategy along with a number of management changes.

If Apotheker were to leave, a new CEO could step in and revisit the plan to spin off the PC division and possibly whether to close on the Autonomy deal, say analysts.

"What bugs me a little bit about this," said Charles King, an analyst at Pund-IT, "... Apotheker was [not] making these announcements in a vacuum. The board had to be deeply involved."

Apotheker may "become a whipping boy for the board that was just as complicit in most of the decisions," King added.

The changes sought by Apotheker, especially the increased focus on software, are already causing disruption at the company, and King worries that replacing the CEO "could cause a great deal more stress and disarray. What do you gain by getting rid of Apotheker?."