Maybe, Google provides them these leaks to hype up their products? or maybe it's the "influencers" who get a "gift" before the release. Retailers who get the early stock to sell at release.
I've been eyeing up the iPhone 15 Pro but the Pixel 8 might be enough to keep me on a Pixel.
I've not used the Pixel 7 fingerprint scanner but the 6 is absolutely trash. It's easily a weak feature of the phone which I have no idea why they aren't working to fix.