There are a lot of reasons to doubt such a rumor, as financial analysts are normally self-interested and supplier reports are near the bottom rung of news reliability. If you put your skepticism aside for a second, though, the idea does have some merit.

For one thing, Apple is reportedly working with LG, one of the few companies that has demonstrated and could manufacture a bendable screen. And late last year, Apple filed a patent application for "an electronic device [that] may have a flexible portion that allows [it] to be folded."

Lastly, Apple showed that it's willing to be at least a bit experimental with the iPhone X, and may be hoping to rekindle earlier days when it used to lead, and not follow in the smartphone market. A bendable phone would certainly do that -- on top of looking radically different, you might be able to unfold it and double the screen size, making it serve double-duty as a tablet. Flexing such a device could also offer new ways to interact with a phone, as this tech demo shows.

We've reached out to Apple for more information, but we're not holding our breath. In the meantime, take this as a fun, very unlikely rumor and liberally sprinkle it with maximum salt.