It's not binary at all. The least likely explanation is that he was simply lying, but that is a possibility. On the other hand, it is very likely that he could have, and most probably did, just spoke to someone who wasn't really in the know at Apple, or was just guessing or maybe had his own agenda and was using Patel, or Patel misinterpreted what was said, etc. It's very unlikely that Apple proper would have decided to put out major change by waiting for recently Apple hostile blogger to call and use that as only channel.
It's similar to Marc Gurman's reporting, some of it is spot on, some wrong as he relies on his source having right access, correctly understanding plans, etc. Happens all the time, and it's clear now that Apple has been working and struggling through next gen MacPro and display. That's why they put out for sale the LG monitor that didn't even come close to their standard for design, etc., as they continue to work on things like 8K display, modularity, etc.
That's why it should not be repeated as a fact that Apple decided to get out of the display business. That would have only be appropriate if Patel had identified a source at Apple that officially confirmed it, otherwise, it should again be, something along the line "One blogger said an unidentified source, etc., was getting . . . but it was never confirmed by Apple or other sources. It now appears that this source was wrong. . . "
