The iPad Mini could be the hot but hard-to-find item this holiday season as experts predict long waiting lists and huge order backlogs for the latest device from Apple, Newsmax reported.

The second-generation iPad Mini is expected to fall short of demand due to production limits on the tablet's retina display. According to an October report, less than 4 million units of the iPad Mini with retina display will be available in the fourth quarter--a figure that may drop below 3 million.

The number represents about one-third of the 8.9 million-unit volume of the first-generation iPad Mini shipments during the last quarter of 2012, said an IHS iSuppli Market Research news release.

Apple had a huge backlog of orders for the last model of the iPad Mini at the start of this year, as demand for the tablet was far above production. The situation could be even worse with the new model.

"With demand for the new mini in the fourth quarter expected to equal or exceed the nearly 9 million units of its predecessor model, supply and demand will be severely out of balance," said the news release.

The California-based corporation is also playing hard to get when it comes to an exact release date for the new iPad Mini.

"Apple is being rather vague about the exact availability date of the new iPad mini with Retina Display, simply stating that the product would ship later in November," Rhoda Alexander, director of tablet research at IHS said. "The company has good reason to be coy about the exact release date, given that supply of the new mini is going to be ridiculously tight in the fourth quarter. The heart of the problem is supply constraints on the new Retina panel."

Alexander also pointed out that Apple could have benefited from staggering the release of its newest products, as the iPad Air was just released last week.

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