It's a fair point, but Apple's also taken a lot of heat for comparing their new models to ancient ones rather than the previous one, so that they can show an even bigger performance jump.
Counterpoint: I see a lot of people in discussion threads talking about if they should upgrade from their M1 purchase. (And I count myself in their number.) It's highly likely Apple knows this, and not too much of a stretch to think they're communicating the number that they think it's important to this customer - how much better it would be if you upgraded today.