BANGALORE: Software giant Microsoft's move to end technical support for its longest running operating system Windows XP has marginally helped global PC sales which are declining, research firms IDC and Gartner said.

Earlier this week, U.S. based Microsoft ended support for Windows XP launched in October 2001, which is three generations behind the latest OS Windows 8.

Though the PC market still continues to decline with continuing weakness in consumer and emerging market segments, the preliminary results are slightly better than a projected decline of 5.3 percent, IDC said, adding that Windows XP migration has helped offset weak consumer PC demand.

Gartner said the severity of the decline has eased compared to the past seven quarters, aided by the announcement to end XP support on April 8 this year.

According to IDC, global PC shipments declined 4.4 percent to 73.4 million units in Q1 2014 compared to the year-ago period, while Gartner estimates sales to have fallen 1.7 percent to 76.6 million units during the same period.

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