As Google's flagship Nexus 4 smartphome continues to sell out, the company's UK and Ireland MD has blamed its manufacturing partner LG for the shortages.

Dan Cobley offered an unreserved apology to its customers and said the "scarce" and "erratic" supplies from LG, as well as a flaw in communication between the two, was responsible.

"For those that originally received a 3-5 days shipping estimate, your orders are now in process for fulfilment," said Cobley in the letter published on The Guardian Web site. 

Cobley further added: "You can expect an email notification early this week which will include tracking information. Although you will be initially charged in full, you will receive a credit for the shipping charge soon after. For others that received pre-Christmas shipping estimates, we anticipate processing your orders for fulfilment this week. I realise that the people who ordered the Nexus 4 so early are among our most committed and loyal users and we are doing all we can to put things right."

The Nexus 4 is one of the earliest devices to feature Google's latest Android Jelly Bean operating system. It sold out within 30 minutes of its release on 13 November.

It has been back in stock intermittently since then, but both the 8GB and 16GB versions are currently out of stock on Google Play with no indication when they'll be back online.

Meanwhile its Asus made Nexus 7, 16GB and 32GB tablet is back in stock following similar stock shortages. However, its Samsung Nexus 10 tablet is also out of stock, in both the 16GB and 32GB version. 

The Korean firm LG has said that the supply shortage is due to the huge demand for the Nexus 4 handset which retails for only $299 for the 8GB version and $349 for the 16GB. That price is far below what customers would have to pay for the iPhone 5 which retails at $649 for the 16GB phone without a contract, and the Samsung Galaxy S3 which goes for $549.

The Nexus 4 matches both those devices in terms of raw hardware power and comes with a far superior 1280 x 768 pixel resolution and pixel density of 320ppi.