SAN FRANCISCO — Apple’s Mac sales have been sliced into again, according to a report.

U.S. sales of Apple personal computers slid 2.3% in the third quarter compared with a year ago, according to Gartner.

“Consumers are using tablets for daily consumption of content over PCs. Apple faces the same thing. It’s just at a higher price point,” says Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa.

Apple saw its Mac sales decline 6% in the second quarter, according to the researcher.

While Apple’s shipments of PCs were reported on the decline, the U.S. PC market was up 3.5% in the third quarter from the same period a year ago. Among other factors, Apple’s Mac business is being cannibalized by its own iPad sales.

“They have not been doing well in the PC space. Their price point is a bit too high for the general consumer,” says Kitagawa.

Worldwide PC sales plummeted 8.6% in the third quarter, the sixth-straight quarterly decline, according to Gartner.

Leading U.S. PC seller Hewlett-Packard saw its sales surge 4.5% in the quarter to 4.3 million units from 4.1 million units a year ago. Second largest seller Dell gained 3% in sales on 3.4 million units compared with 3.3 million.

Third-ranked U.S. seller Apple reported in third-quarter earnings sales of 3.8 million Macs worldwide compared with 4 million in the same period a year ago.

Apple is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings results October 28.