PC sales are expected to increase slightly over last year. Most of this growth is expected to take place in emerging markets while mature markets like the U.S. will most likely see a drop in PC sales, according to research group IDC (News - Alert).

IDC points out tablet computers are one of the biggest reasons PC sales have seen single-digit growth in recent years. It states PC sales are projected to increase five percent in the second quarter of 2012. PC sales grew just two percent last year in emerging markets and actually decreased by nine percent in mature markets.

Bob O’Donnel, vice president at IDC, told the Associated Press iPads and other tablets “are proving to be a powerful distraction” for consumers. He suggests that the introduction of Windows 8 and so-called ultrabooks to be unveiled later this year should help boost PC sales a bit.

Jay Chou, senior research analyst at IDC, added “Windows 8 and ultrabooks are a definitive step in the right direction to recapturing the relevance of the PC, but its promise of meshing a tablet experience in a PC body will likely entail a period of trial and error. Thus the market will likely see modest growth in the near term."

IDC expects 2013 to be a slow year for major PC makers, such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo (News - Alert) and Sony. Sales of PCs in emerging markets should also remain slow, according to IDC, due to the recent flooding in PC component manufacturing plants in Thailand.

IDC stated last week it expects tablet shipments to increase by 54 percent this year due to the popularity of the Amazon Kindle, iPad 3 and selection of other Android (News - Alert) tablets. The research group predicts Android tablets will overtake Apple’s iPad as the best-selling tablet computer by 2015.