According to the latest statistics released by market intelligence and advisory firm Gartner, despite competition from the Apple iPad, the sales of PCs will likely witness moderate growth in 2012, especially with a new Microsoft OS and ultrabook models in the offing.

Going by the Gartner projections - coming one day after Apple’s Wednesday unveiling of its third-generation iPad -, there will probably be a 4.4 percent year-on-year increase in global PC shipments to 368 million units this year. Moreover, the figures are likely to leap 10 percent, to exceed 400 million units, by the end of next year.

As per Gartner, the uptick in the global PC shipments will essentially be a result of the expected release of Microsoft’s Windows 8 OS this year, as well as a new wave of slim laptops called ultrabooks.

Gartner’s expectations of PC sales’ growth this year and the next are a notably hearty indication for the PC industry, especially since the double-digits yearly growth of the industry has witnessed a slow down to single digits in the last few years.

With Gartner statistics revealing that the PC industry is heading in the right direction, the company’s research director Ranjit Atwal said that even though PC shipments will remain weak this year, the market will chiefly play catch up “in bringing a new level of innovation that consumers want to see in devices they purchase.”