Even the 16" does not hold a candle to this TBH:
The thinner bezels help with a lot of things:
1. Looks cool.
2. Either more screen real estate for the same size, or a more compact size. A 14.5" MacBook Pro with much smaller bezels would have been even more compact than the current 13" MacBook Pro and yet it would have a noticeably bigger screen.
It's a valid argument because literally, everyone else but Apple is thinning the bezels. In fact, Apple did thin the bezels on their phones and iPads, but it took them this long to thin the bezels on the Mac. Or actually, I take that back. It took them this long to NOT thin the bezels on the Mac. The 16" has a bigger screen, and the sides are smaller than before but I wouldn't even call it a "thin bezel". There are the top and bottom portions, and despite them looking super large and hideous, the included webcam is still horrible, with no Face ID support. On the other hand, the iPad Pro has had Face ID for God knows how long.
The Verge has all the reasons in the world to call this out, and I bet... they will have all of the reasons to call this out again next year, and the year after, and the year after... until Apple does a redesign of the 16". That is, if they still even care that much about the Mac at that point.