It's been auctioned online, tested in the U.K., and now prised apart in Germany -- like more powerful sibling, the PlayStation 4 Neo, the PlayStation 4 Slim is an open secret ahead of an anticipated September 7 announcement.

With a PlayStation Meeting convened for September 7 in New York at 3pm Eastern, the stage is set for Sony Interactive Entertainment to unveil its upgraded version of the PlayStation 4, codenamed the PlayStation 4 Neo.

The meeting's special title is usually deployed for new hardware announcements, with the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation Portable handhelds, and PlayStation 2 Network Adapter announced this way.

In June, SIE's CEO Andrew House had confirmed a more powerful version of the PlayStation 4 was on its way, but would not feature in a PlayStation showcase at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo that month.

The announcement "was about not disappointing the fan base who would obviously come to E3 with high expectations of all kinds of announcements," he later told The Guardian.

An agenda-less PlayStation Meeting on September 7 coupled with no repeat denial of Neo content indicates the even more capable console is getting its time in the spotlight.

But it looks like more than the Neo is set for introduction.

House had also referred to Apple's "available now" approach as the new tech industry standard -- coincidence or not, the iPhone 7 is due for its own reveal on September 7, with pre-orders expected imminently in advance of a retail release the following week.

The implication is that the Neo will be made available for purchase not long after it's announced.

What's now almost certain is that a reduced-size PlayStation 4 Slim is being prepared for immediate mass market retail.

It popped up on U.K. auction site Gumtree mid-August (per Eurogamer), and by the end of the month British journalist Laura Kate Dale made headlines by reviewing a retail Slim before it had even been announced.

Now a German YouTuber, Links-Tech, has posted his look at the machine with a two-minute deconstruction of the console case and its innards.

It's a third smaller in total size than the original PlayStation 4, has dropped support for optical audio cables, and appears to ship with a 500GB or 1TB hard drive.

"The operating volume is very quiet (but the console gets immediately hot)," Links-Tech said, posting as XFX9500 on the RealModScene message board.