Intel, the world's biggest computer chipmaker, said Tuesday its quarterly profit dipped 0.7 percent from a year ago to $2.95 billion, but managed to beat Wall Street estimates.

Intel, which is struggling to make inroads in the surging market for processors for smartphones and tablets in a rapidly shifting tech landscape, said revenues for the third quarter were up a scant 0.2 percent at $13.48 billion.

The profit translated to 58 cents a share, or five cents better than the Wall Street consensus.

"The third quarter came in as expected, with modest growth in a tough environment," said Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich.

"We're executing on our strategy to offer an increasingly broad and diverse product portfolio that spans key growth segments, operating systems and form factors. Since August, we have introduced more than 40 new products for market segments from the Internet-of-Things to data centers, with an increasing focus on ultra-mobile devices and 2 in 1 systems."

Krzanich, who was named chief executive in May, has said Intel would step up efforts to gain ground in the mobile market.

The Silicon Valley giant claims its new, low-power, high-performance Silvermont chip design unveiled in May could be used in segments ranging from smartphones to the data center.