Those two linked articles are in fact among the ones I referred to that help spread the misconception, not by intention for sure. They are obviously right as well, but their wording, could easily lead people to take them out of context.
"For larger signals, one transistor will become non-conducting and the other will supply the current required by the load. Hence for large signals the circuit behaves like a Class B amplifier."
Read the bold wording I quoted them above, and you will know what I meant. As you must agree, Class AB amps are biased to
always have a small overlapping conduction angle (like the traffic light "all red state") right? So that means for the most part, one transistor will in fact become non-contacting. That's why the word "behaves..." were used but no, they didn't mean to say they behave the same as a class B amplifier and I am quite sure about that. It is like saying some times he/she behaves like a boss, is not the same as saying he/she is the boss.
A Class B amplifier by definition does not have the overlapping conduction angle, each transistor of the pair conducts 180 degrees, that is it.
I actually wanted to preemptive this very point you just made but I was out at the time, typing on my little Android phone so I didn't bother. I do thank you for the opportunity to clarify my point.
By the way, not all class AB amp are biased to behave like class A amp even at very low (but meaningful) output level either. That is another misconception.
