If you want the latest of everything, then consider a distro that is a rolling release, which PopOS is not; it is conversative and focus on stability more than having the latest of everything (I personally rather have a stable distro than latest of everything). Even tho S76 often try to roll out latest kernel/mesa/nvidia drivers; it's likely due to the fact they're a hardware company and need to support the latest tech they're selling.

Gnome 42 is still the latest Gnome version of the actual Ubuntu 22.04 LTS that Pop is based on. It is not behind at all; Pop is still updating Gnome 42 to the latest revisions when it is available.

Since Ubuntu 22.04 LTS will be supported for 5 years, that's pretty much how long Pop will remain supporting that version until the next PopOS with Cosmic DE is available. I don't think they have any plans to do a new point update without Cosmic DE.