Yes design choice. Apple chose to design it for security.

Which means, crudely simplified, that your biometrics can be extracted from an Android or a Windows. I’d prefer companies being extra paranoid about my biometrics, because they can’t be changed if they’re leaked

google pixel does, but they did the unimaginable and released the tool where users can actually recalibrate the sensor.

Google is not a good comparison, because Google engineering is inferior.

They suck at privacy, and they are indeed relatively new to hardware game, but I'd say they are better at security than you think, on par or even better than Apple. Like Apple SoC, it has a dedicated security chip. The new Pixel 8 even implements Memory Tagging Extension, which iPhone doesn't yet have. And they do all this while allowing you to install third party rom. It's how projects like GrapheneOS can exist.

They have security flaws that are 20 years old that could be solved by an 8 year old.