Granted, it's an oversimplification but I wouldn't call it a misrepresentation. It's one of the (arguably key) things that make quantum algorithms work.
To quote Nielsen & Chuang (section 1.4.2 on page 30):
> Quantum parallelism is a fundamental feature of many quantum algorithms. Heuristically, and at the risk of over-simplifying, quantum parallelism allows quantum computers
to evaluate a function f(x) for many different values of x simultaneously. In this section we explain how quantum parallelism works, and some of its limitations.
Then they go on and explain how e.g. the Deutsch–Jozsa algorithm is a good example of this. But I think it's a key component in Shor's algorithm as well when it comes to the period-finding step.
To quote Nielsen & Chuang (section 1.4.2 on page 30):
> Quantum parallelism is a fundamental feature of many quantum algorithms. Heuristically, and at the risk of over-simplifying, quantum parallelism allows quantum computers to evaluate a function f(x) for many different values of x simultaneously. In this section we explain how quantum parallelism works, and some of its limitations.
Then they go on and explain how e.g. the Deutsch–Jozsa algorithm is a good example of this. But I think it's a key component in Shor's algorithm as well when it comes to the period-finding step.