The problem is bugs. Right now the pre-releases have been published and those versions are nearly identical to what we can expect from 1.13. The main issue are the bugs which are still being tackled.

My expectation is that it's only going to be a few more weeks before the official release.

It is actually not out on the legacy console edition yet, so I assume you are referring to the bedrock edition.

Bedrock uses a "train" type update format where they add features whenever the individual feature is complete. There have been a lot of features added, but there are still a few that are missing.

Java, on the other hand, uses snapshots. Eventually, every single part of the update will be added into the game at once.

Neither one is really complete, they just use different updating methods.

well u do have the snapshots which are close to that version so just play them instead

The Console Edition belongs with the "Better Together" update where Phone, Console, and Windows 10 Edition can all play together. They NEED to be updated at the exact same time, But! For the Java Edition Mojang has stated that it's more of a "Testing ground" for them, and that they would like (For the 1.13 update) to fix as many bugs as possible before they release it to the public.

Otherwise we would actually have had the 1.13 Update for Java Edition in May this year :)

omf i have to pay 100 quid