OTOH given Apple's track record, employees can probably just tell themselves, "Whatever I'm working on, someone smarter than me is overseeing it. I'm sure it will be awesome."
That's got to be more encouraging than knowing exactly what you're working on and despairing as a result.
I would bet then either the rumors are not true or it's more nuanced than we know. Apple seems to produce good software quickly. How would that be possible with a company full of miserable developers? We don't hear much, or anything, about big employee churn rates at Apple either.
That's got to be more encouraging than knowing exactly what you're working on and despairing as a result.