A secret new Chromecast wound up on the shelves at a random Best Buy, apparently

In a media environment that thrives on leaks, tech companies do their best to keep the very latest and greatest iterations of their products away from prying eyes until the right moment. When they finally release them, it's with press conferences and fanfare, ad campaigns and endorsements.

Or, you know, they just show up a month early at some completely random Best Buy.

Google's new Chromecast, which was presumably not to be announced until the coming Oct. 9 reveal event, was accidentally sold to a Reddit user with the handle GroveStreetHomie. So of course, the buyer posted an image of his new hardware on r/google.

In a post titled "I think I got the 3rd gen Chromecast too early," GroveStreetHomie told the story of how he walked into a Best Buy and saw the new box sitting on the shelves. It initially didn't scan, but the register employee used a barcode for an older Chromecast to allow him to purchase the updated version.

GroveStreetHomie said that the new Chromecast is slightly thicker and noted a few aesthetic and design updates in his post. Google hasn't yet responded to Mashable's request for comment.

Best Buy has also not said anything about this yet, and if the retailer wants to avoid the wrath of Google... it's probably for the best. Buy.