- Google’s Android TV-based Chromecast is already on sale at stores like Home Depot and Walmart.
- The unannounced $50 dongle uses a rebranded platform, Google TV.
- It could be available immediately after Google’s September 30 event.
Never mind retail box leaks — Google’s Android TV-powered Chromecast appears to already be available in stores, at least if you’re willing to hunt for it. The Verge and Reddit users have managed to buy the “Sabrina” dongle at certain Home Depot and Walmart shops days before its expected debut at Google’s September 30 event.
The purchases confirm what few secrets are left for the devices. The new Chromecast is using Google TV, a rebranded version of Android TV, and should be affordable at $50. The sales even confirmed the Sabrina codename — receipts described it as “SABRINA-ABBEY ROCK CANDY.” Retailers clearly didn’t have official naming for the products yet.
Read more: It’s time Google took streaming seriously with its new Chromecast
Don’t expect to buy the device online just yet. Google’s device doesn’t show up in internet systems, and only seems to be available in person at the moment. Given that there’s a pandemic, you might want to wait instead of traveling from store to store to track down a unit.
The updated Chromecast won’t be extremely powerful. It should have a modest quad-core chip, 2GB of RAM, about 4.4GB of storage. It’s powerful enough to play video in 4K with HDR, though, and one Reddit user confirmed that Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision worked properly. It’s still a large upgrade — the Chromecast Ultra started at a higher price without HDR, and it was dependent on your phone.
You should hear a lot more about the Android TV-based Chromecast at Google’s event. If these store discoveries are any indication, though, the hardware might be available soon after the presentation.
