PC makers are not going down without a fight.
The industry's titans have teamed up to launch an ad campaign to highlight how PCs have changed and what they can do since smartphones and tablets became so prominent.
Dell, HP, Intel, Lenovo and Microsoft are partnering to roll out the campaign titled "PC Does What?" in a bid to get people to upgrade to the recently released Windows 10 and some of the new products being released by Lenovo, HP and Dell that contain Intel's new sixth generation chips.
"The possibilities of today's PCs are endless, but millions of people are still using outdated systems," Karen Quintos, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Dell, said in a press release.
"For consumers and business users alike, entirely new benefits and features come standard in the latest devices. Now is the perfect time to experience what you've been missing."
The campaign comes amid a slowdown in the PC market with shipments plunging 10.8 percent year-on-year in the third quarter on this year, according to market research firm IDC.
Microsoft unveiled its new Windows 10 operating system earlier this year and was offering users free upgrades, a reason analysts say was behind the market decline. But there is reason for optimism.
"While PC shipments will be hampered in the short run by the availability of a free upgrade to Windows 10, the improved PC experience across user segments should drive longer-term demand for new PC hardware that is expected help stabilize the market in 2016 and beyond," Jay Chou, research manager at IDC Worldwide PC Tracker, said in a note earlier this month.
The manufacturers will be hoping this is true but have been focusing on new products to bolster sales of hardware. Earlier this year, Microsoft unveiled its first ever laptop – the Surface Book – which has a detachable keyboard to turn it into a tablet.
Lenovo is another company that produces a tablet with a detachable keyboard – known as a 2-in-1 or hybrid tablet in a bid to boost its tablet sales, while Apple has launched a large-screen iPad Pro with a similar function.
The PC Does What campaign will launch on October 19 and run until November 20 across online, TV and social media, the companies said. It will cost $70 million, according to a report by the Associated Press.