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Both Gartner and IDC pegged the overall third-quarter growth of the global PC market at just under 7%, but that trend was overshadowed by the industry's new pecking order.
The changing of the guard occurred after HP's shipments climbed by 15% from a year ago while Dell's edged up by less than 4%.
HP shipped 110 000 more
By Gartner's measure, HP shipped 110 000 more PCs than Dell to give it a 16.3% share of the global market compared to 16.1% for its rival.
It marks the first time since 2003's final quarter that HP - now the world's largest technology company - has held the top spot.
HP expanded its PC business in 2002 with its $19bn acquisition of Compaq Computer - a deal engineered by HP's former chief executive, Carly Fiorina, who is now touting her accomplishments in a new memoir.
IDC calculated things differently, but also agreed HP holds a narrow lead in the global market. Although HP shipped 28 000 more PCs than Dell during the quarter, IDC pegged both companies market share of the worldwide market at roughly 17%.
Dell retained a substantial lead in the US market, where its dominance of the corporate market gives its a major advantage, analysts said.
Nevertheless, HP also narrowed the gap in the United States, where its market share stood somewhere between 22% and 23%. Dell's hovered between 31% and 32%, according to the research firms.
Both PC makers recently have been battling image problems brought on by embarrassing incidents.
Boardroom leak no problem for HP sales
HP has been rocked by revelations of the shady tactics that investigators deployed in a cloak-and-dagger operation designed to plug a boardroom leak.
The subterfuge included obtaining personal phone records under false pretenses - a scheme that culminated in congressional hearings and criminal charges against five people, including HP's former chairperson.
The scandal, which erupted in early September, apparently didn't deter the sales momentum that HP has been building since Mark Hurd became chief executive during the spring of 2005.
All PC makers take from Dell
All the other major PC makers also picked up market share at Dell's expense in the third quarter. China's Lenovo remained third in the worldwide PC market with a roughly 8% share, followed by Taiwan-based Acer at 6% and Japan's Toshiba at 4%.
In the US, Apple Computer's shipments rose by more than 30% from last year, reflecting strong back-to-school demands for its notebooks.
The Cupertino, California-based company, which has become better known for its ubiquitous iPods, ended the quarter with a 6% share of the US market.
