The PC industry performed better than expected as worldwide PC shipments totaled 80.9 million units in the third quarter of 2009, a 0.5% increase from the third quarter of 2008, according to Gartner. Gartner had expected PC shipments to decline 5.6% in the quarter.

“These are good results especially given that PC shipments for the third quarter of 2009 are being compared to a very strong third quarter from 2008,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “Sequentially, third quarter shipments grew 18%, which is higher than the historical seasonal growth from the second to third quarter.”