Microsoft promises to replenish UK Surface Pro 3 stock

Microsoft hails 'incredible response' to latest in Surface tablet line

Microsoft has insisted it is working hard to replenish stocks of the Surface Pro 3 in the UK and a number of other key markets where it claims the tablets are flying off the shelves.

The Surface Pro 3 only arrived in the UK market at the end of August, but Microsoft said the devices are already hard to come by in some shops.

It claims the Core i5 and i7 devices are sold out in China and that stock is running low in Germany, New Zealand, Korea and Australia, where some retailers sold out by lunchtime on launch day.

Microsoft said it was "humbled" by the response to the device, which is the latest version of the tablet. Its predecessors – the Surface RT, Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 – failed to set the market alight and last year a price cut for the former burned a $900m (£591bn) hole in Microsoft's balance sheet.

The vendor admitted retailers underestimated how popular the tablet would be.

"Due to the response, Surface Pro 3 is in limited supply in some markets," it said.

"Given the interest that we saw as part of our US launch, retailers ordered what we thought was a healthy amount of Surface Pro 3s for these new markets. It turns out that we didn't ship enough."

It added it is sending out more products "as fast as we can" and predicts shelves will be full again within the next fortnight.