HP widened its market-share lead over Dell in worldwide PC shipments in the third quarter, while Dell returned to growth after several quarters of declines, researcher IDC reported on Wednesday.

Total PC shipments grew 15.5 percent worldwide in the third quarter, IDC said. Separately, researcher Gartner reported a 14.4 percent rise in worldwide PC shipments in the third period and said US shipments grew 4.7 percent, below its earlier forecast of 6.7 percent growth.

HP shipped 19.6 percent of all PCs in the period, a 33 percent leap from the year-earlier period, IDC said in its quarterly PC market-share survey. The gap between HP and Dell widened to 4.4 percentage points from 3.2 points in the second quarter.

Dell stayed in the number-two spot with an estimated 15.2 percent of the market, but its shipments grew 3.8 percent to 10.2 million units, reversing a streak of three consecutive quarters in which its shipments fell from year-earlier periods.

HP’s growth, the second consecutive quarter in which its shipments advanced by more than 30 percent, was helped by strong sales through retailers and other distribution channels, and demand for its laptop PCs, according to IDC.

Dell had strong growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as the Asia-Pacific region, while improvements in the US and Japan were “less dramatic”, IDC said.

Lenovo kept the number-three spot, with 8.2 percent of total shipments, representing 22.9 percent growth from a year earlier, IDC estimated.

Taiwan’s Acer held on to fourth place, with 8.1 percent of shipments and growth of 59.2 percent, helped by strong gains in its main markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and the Asia-Pacific area.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Toshiba, with 4.4 percent of worldwide shipments, was in fifth place, growing 17.3 percent.