The PC and tablet client device market increased 7% in the UK during the third quarter of 2013, according to an IDC report.
According to the research, the increase in device shipments was driven by stronger demand for tablets when compared to PCs, which experienced a 15.4% drop during the quarter.
IDC analyst Catherine Lowry said September PC sales showed a steeper decline since July and August compared with the same period in 2012.
She added: "Windows 8.1 and Haswell platforms and new slimmer form factors generated interest among end users but did not have a significant impact on shipments in 3Q for the majority of PC manufacturers."
During the third quarter, the consumer PC market declined by 30.2% in the UK compared to the same period in 2012.
The commercial segment recorded growth of 1.5% during the quarter as companies increased spending cautiously with an improvement in business confidence in the country.
Desktop PC segment grew 6.6%, driven by the increase in the commercial space, whereas portable PC shipments experienced a 25.8% drop against the same period last year.
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The report reveals that the strong industry focus on producing tablets had a significant impact on the consumer mobile space in the third quarter, during which about 2.6 million tablets were shipped in the UK.
Tablets sales increased by 38.7% year on year during the quarter, representing slow growth as many vendors were planning to release new models in the run up to Christmas.
Apple led the British market while preparing the release of new products for the Christmas season, followed by Samsung, which shipped twice the number of devices it did last year.
Amazon also reported strong growth in the third quarter that was supported by aggressive promotions as it planned to unveil new devices in the fourth quarter.
IDC tablet research analyst Jorge Ferreira said the tablet market has entered a more mature stage and started experiencing some seasonality affected by shifts of manufacturers’ product refresh cycles.
"New models like the Apple iPad Air and Amazon Kindle Fire HDX are expected to highly impact Q4 volumes," Ferreira added.
Tablet sales are expected to jump with the release of new models for the Christmas season.
