These reports always come up within 4 months after Apple having launched a new device. I'm guessing some people are making a lot of money from this FUD, by hiring PR / Research firms that will do everything to make Apple look weak.
And then the sun comes out at the next earnings announcement.
Sure, one day we'll all be wrong, but this narrative has played out for about the last 5 launches. It's about as common as FB announcing record DAU at earnings then releasing a note about shutting down millions of bots a couple of weeks later.
For short and distort to work, the stock/product has to be one in major demand that can be pushed down with big fish efforts and it will bounce back almost guaranteed. Skimming funds for the hedge funds and big fish from the small/medium longs.
The SEC is starting to crack down on short and distort [2] as it is a market cheat like naked short selling [3] was which exacerbated the Great Recession. SEC cracked down on naked short selling three days after the Great Recession cliff in Sept 2008 [3]. But the levels of shell/misdirection in short and distort is very hard to track down. It is market abuse and if not checked could break the public markets now that most of investing is automated/HFT.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_and_distort
To provide some anecdata: I got myself an iPhone 6 Plus right after iPhone 8 came out because I needed a headphone jack. If I were to upgrade I'd probably go with the 8 Plus now because it comes with a superior battery life and a physical home button.