Using dev kits to project what a consumer device is going to be, opens up for potential issues as decent Dev Kits have typically always ran with a few changes in hardware to aid in development. I.E. More Ram or faster CPU/GPU etc' to account for profiling and logging tools overhead.

And this circles back around to my previous point... Stop. Beleving. Rumors.

The amount of people who flat out get it wrong... Time and again, just out of excitement, only to fall for the next rumor is absolutely depressing.

There was a mix up but there is an OLED screen Switch model. 

If anything leaks are more accurate today than in the past, in the past almost nothing leaked about major hardware, these days there is info definitely floating out there before hand on virtually every major hardware release. 

NX being a hybrid console with detachable controllers was leaked months before, PS4 Pro and XBox One X were leaked, Switch Lite was leaked (right down to an actual photo of the back plate of the console), Switch OLED was leaked. 

Sometimes the info gets a little mixed up, but it doesn't mean rumors are not ever worth listening to, quite often where there is smoke there is definitely fire these days. 

Not really.

Remember the rumor that the Switch Pro was going to use an AMD chip? Didn't happen.
https://voonze.com/nintendo-switch-pro-was-able-to-mount-an-amd-chip-but-it-was-impossible-to-reach-an-agreement/

Remember the rumor when the Switch Pro was going to be 4k? Didn't happen.
https://www.tomsguide.com/round-up/nintendo-switch-pro-release-date-specs-leaks-and-more

Remember when the Switch Pro was going to have a 1080p display? Didn't happen.
https://www.gamesradar.com/nintendo-switch-pro-release-date-specs-rumors/

Remember when the Switch Pro was going to have a Mini-LED display instead of OLED? Didn't happen.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/10/rumour_switch_pro_could_feature_a_mini-led_display_according_to_a_new_report

Remember when the upgraded Switch was supposed to replace the current model rather than just be an addition to the lineup? Did not happen.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-27/nintendo-plans-upgraded-switch-replacement-as-soon-as-september

Remember when the Switch pro was going to have DLSS? Also didn't happen.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-23/nintendo-to-use-new-nvidia-graphics-chip-in-2021-switch-upgrade

Remember when the Switch was going to be a VR/AR console? Yeah. That never happened either.
https://www.vg247.com/nintendo-nx-mass-production-delayed-to-add-vr-features-report

Remember when the Switch was rumored to have an AMD SoC? Nope. That was a joke too.
https://www.vg247.com/amd-could-be-making-the-processer-for-nintendos-nx-console

Remember when the Switch was going to have 4k streaming? 900P/60fps gaming? Surf the Web? Make video calls?
Would even come with a sensor bar like the Wii and WiiU? None of that rubbish happened either.
https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/221699-nintendo-nx-console-leak-points-to-high-frame-rates-900p-resolution

And you have the gall to blatantly assert that leaks are more accurate today?
Common, with this pretty quick and dirty list of evidence.. Who are you really trying to fool?

Rumors and leaks are bullshit and should always be regarded as such until we have actual evidence, not unsubstantiated claims.

Well if you pick stuff that suit your argument, of course. Cause, on the other side:

Nintendo NX will have Tegra X1 in it https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2016-nintendo-nx-mobile-games-machine-powered-by-nvidia-tegra

True

Nintendo NX will be portable, cartridge-based, with its own display and detachable controllers https://www.polygon.com/2016/7/26/12284342/nintendo-nx-details-handheld-console-report 

True

New versions of the Switch model would launch, with one being a "Lite" version without HD rumble and non-removable controllers https://www.wired.co.uk/article/new-nintendo-switch-models-2019

True

A new Switch would have ethernet port, better stand and better storage https://gametiptip.com/rumours-suggest-that-the-nintendo-switch-pro-features-usb-30-ethernet-ports-and-a-better-kick-stand/

True

A new Switch model would have OLED screen https://gamerant.com/nintendo-switch-pro-oled-screen-rumors/

True

You don't get it. - It doesn't matter how many rumors end up being accurate.

We still get a massive deluge of false ones.

And because of such, we will -never- be able to ascertain which rumors are fact and which rumors are fiction before an official announcement.

You're forgetting the lurkers. Forum users, reddit users, Twitter users. Gaming has a huge number of people who follow news and rumors in advance. The average gamer is not the target of the release window. 

The nature of smartphone market is a bit different. Two, three and even four lines of smartphones coexist in the market for a couple of years. Most of smartphones are functionally the same, just with some hardware upgrades. Even software support and SO is the same for different models, hence you don't need to feel totally alienated to not have the newest version.

In console one line pretty much replaces the other. It's expected the next generation games to not be always playable on your current consoles. Acquiring hardware is a mostly planned purchase, you get a console and calculate how many years of support and games you have on it before replacing your machine. The announcement of PS5 (one year before its launch) haven't killed PS4 momentum in any sense, because people who were waiting for the sixth year to get their FIRST PS4 were never the target of a launch window for PS5. The pool of consumers is essentially different. Even if some people decided to not buy a PS4 it didn't hurt Sony in long term, a weaker quarter sales can be easily maked up by a very strong PS5 launch which was precisely what happened

For manufacturers is actually good business if people adopt their next hardware asap, because the purpose of a new hardware is to replace the old one  

You said Never trust rumors. You didn't say earlier we can never be able to ascertain which are true and which are false. You're adjusting your shot.

If a percentage is true, then it becomes a matter of detecting the likelihood of veracity. So rumors can be useful, you just should never blindly believe all, but you can try to find some truth through them. Some come from more trustworthy sources, some are more likely for technical reasons, so all it takes is to look at them and try to figure it out.

Obviously we will never know for sure, but it can help us get a sense of what's up. It makes sense to do that.

Correct. I said never trust rumors. Why? Because you don't know what is true and what is not.
And if you are unable to determine what is truth and what is not, you discard the lot until you get information from an empirical source. I.E. Official announcements.

That isn't a shifting of the goal post.

It's fact.

Remember when people thought the PS5/Series X was going to have 32GB-128GB of Ram? Yeah. Most rumors are a joke.

Correct. I said never trust rumors. Why? Because you don't know what is true and what is not.
And if you are unable to determine what is truth and what is not, you discard the lot until you get information from an empirical source. I.E. Official announcements.

That isn't a shifting of the goal post.

It's fact.

Remember when people thought the PS5/Series X was going to have 32GB-128GB of Ram? Yeah. Most rumors are a joke.

You said "Stop. Beleving. Rumors."

https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9407699

But when SMG showed you rumors that ended up being true, you said:
"we will -never- be able to ascertain which rumors are fact and which rumors are fiction before an official announcement."

So it's either a shift of goalpost, or you are just plain wrong to say "Stop. Believing. Rumors.", because some may be true, so it would be right to believe them.

Here are the possible outcomes:

A - We can believe a rumor and it ends up being true. GOOD
B - We can believe a rumor and it ends up being false. BAD
C - We can not believe a rumor and it ends up being true. BAD
D - We can not believe a rumor and it ends up being false. GOOD

So by never believing rumors, we are wrong on outcome C. By always believing rumors, we are wrong on outcome B.

So the best is to inspect rumors and look for patterns, to Fit into A & D as much as possible.

Easy, no black and white necessary, just use your logic and filter the rumors according to a few criteria.

This is much more constructive than flat out discrediting all rumors as you're suggesting. So stop.