Reuters reports that Acer’s chairman, J.T. Wang, said so at the company’s annual shareholder meeting and confirming to some extent that the global PC market has yet to recover fully, even after the launch of Windows 8 late last year.

The company also reported that sales for the first five months of the year were down by 19 per cent compared to the same period last year, not helped by a subdued global economic environment that.

Research company, IDC, reported earlier in April that PC shipments for the first quarter of 2013 fell to 76 million, a 14 per cent drop year-on-year. One which is the biggest since IDC started tracking the PC market two decades ago and may well indicate that the fall may well be permanent.

Acer, which has grown significantly over the last two decades by pushing for thinner margins and aggressively acquiring rivals (Emachines, Packard Bell, Gateway) and was once aiming to become the world’s biggest PC manufacturer, now lies fourth behind HP, Dell and Lenovo.

These three have managed to rely less on the traditional computer and more on other related segments such as printers, services or servers.