Demand for computer displays has predictably been dragged down further by the slowing PC market, but an encouraging third quarter sales uplift indicates it’s not time to jump ship just yet. The latest market report from IDC reveals that while monitor shipments are down 8.6 percent year-over-year, the number of units sold increased 4.5 percent to just over 35 million from the previous quarter, a decisive break of the downtrend seen in the previous nine months.

Jennifer Song, a research analyst at IDC, detailed that “Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan)(APeJ), Western Europe, and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) outperformed the overall market in the third quarter and increased their regional market shares. China and India were the top growth drivers within APeJ, while Germany and Russia were the leading country markets in Europe.”

Dell, which is currently in the process of transforming into an enterprise IT provider, maintained its leadership position with 4.8 million units shipped, accounting for 13.9 percent of the overall market. Within that, the newly private hardware maker commands 28.6 percent share of the U.S. market for touch screen monitors.

Overall, Dell grew its share of the market by 0.7 percent from the third quarter of 2012. Samsung saw sales tank by 28.7 percent in the same period, but it nonetheless managed to come in second and remain the most profitable vendor with revenue of $1.09 billion, or 17.9 percent of the total market value. HP held onto third place, LG stayed number four, and AOC moved back into fifth place thanks to positive gains in every region except Japan.

Looking forward, IDC predicts global display sales will decline 3.2 percent to 33.9 million unit in the fourth quarter. The research firm forecasts a total of 136.3 million shipment in 2013, a 8.5 drop from 2012 but slightly more than its previous forecast of 134.7 million units. In 2017, only 109.6 million monitors will be sold.