PC market slump will worsen in Q4, says IDC

IDC said that worldwide shipments of PCs -- including notebooks, desktops and servers -- will fall by 10 percent for the fourth quarter, pulling year-over-year growth for all of 2015 down to 10.3 percent.

IDC attributes some of the slowdown to the strong U.S. dollar, as well as depressed commodity prices and a backlog of existing inventory. IDC expects the downward trend to continue through at least the first half of next year.

"Despite the substantial shift in spending and usage models from PCs toward tablets and phones in recent years, very few people are giving up on their PC -- they are just making it last longer," IDC analyst Loren Loverde said in a statement.

Overall, the research firm forecasts a 3.1 percent decline next year. However, IDC believes that shipments will stabilize by the end of next year and perhaps even grow as more replacement options hit the market.

Enterprise adoption of Windows 10 and the use of Chromebooks in the U.S. K through 12 market could also bolster long-term PC growth, IDC said.

Another respite for the PC market could be the continued growth for all-in-one desktops as well as convertible and ultraslim notebooks, according to IDC.

"Going forward, these designs will continue to gain share, even in the face of stable PC volumes and competition from detachable tablets," said Jay Chou, Research Manager for IDC's Worldwide PC Tracker.