The new Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 tablets may soon be hard to come by, as Microsoft said its slates are selling out.

Microsoft has recently launched its second-generation Surface tablets to a rather skeptic crowd, as its first-generation slates did not exactly fly off the shelves. The Surface RT in particular was not well-received at all, dealing a pretty heavy blow to the company's finances.

The company hoped to turn things around with the new Windows RT-based Surface 2 and the Surface Pro 2, which runs the full-fledged version of Windows. According to Microsoft's latest announcement, things seem to be turning out well so far.

"Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 are close to selling out," tweeted the company on Friday, Oct. 4.

It remains unclear at this point just how many tablets Microsoft made (and sold) and what that "close to selling out" really means. The company did not provide any additional details.

The Microsoft Store online indeed shows some shipping delays for the new Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, which usually indicates high demand. The 32GB version of the Surface 2 will ship by Oct. 29, while the 64GB model will ship from Oct. 25. The Surface Pro 2, meanwhile, should ship in 64GB and 128GB configurations by Oct. 21, while the 256GB and 512GB should ship by Oct. 29.

Microsoft faces some tough competition on the crowded tablet market, which is mostly dominated by the iPad and tablets running on Google's Android operating system. Consumers still seem more drawn to the iOS and Android platforms rather than Windows 8 and Windows RT, but the new-generation Surface tablets seem to be pushing in the right direction.

The first-generation Surface tablets that launched last year marked Microsoft's first foray into the tablet market with its own-brand hardware, but the company seems to have learned plenty since then and is now trying again with improved specs and features.

For those unfamiliar with the new tablets, the Surface 2 runs the stripped-down version of Windows 8 called Windows RT, but sports better specs than the original Surface RT. The Surface Pro 2, meanwhile, is marketed as a slate that offers a full laptop experience in a tablet package. The two tablets went up for pre-order on Sept. 24 and will hit stores on Oct. 22. If Microsoft's tweet is any indication, interested buyers might want to hurry while the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 are still in stock.