Michael Dell said he expects sales of Microsoft's Surface to be "relatively small."

According to CNET, the Dell founder and chief executive commented on Microsoft's upcoming tablet during the PC maker's second-quarter earnings conference call on Aug 21.

"I think there's an understanding of the number of units that they're likely to sell is a relatively small percentage. Maybe in the 1 [percent] to 2 percent range of total PC units during next year," he said in response to analyst's question.

Dell posted second quarter revenue of $14.48 billion, a 7.5 percent decline from the same period in the previous year. The company expects third-quarter revenue to decline two percent to 5 percent sequentially.

Dell posted a profit of $732 million, or 42 cents a share, off from the $890 million, or 48 cents a share, reported a year earlier.