I think the most recent updates to Talk Back have definitely made it more usable. Gestures seem to be much smoother & more responsive than in previous versions. I still prefer Voice over but using Android is still manageable. Phones with higher specs have often provided better experience, so I would recommend testing multiple phones if possible.

I have 200/1000 vision I'm legally blind i can close my eyes and can use my phone and tablet with TalkBack without looking at them, TalkBack is improving independently from system updates quite often. I had before iPhone and my mom has an iPad i have to help her often so i have to use VouceOver and other accessibility options.
Android is fully accessible since version 6 now there's version 12, accessibility options are mostly independent from system some companies like Samsung are adding extra options (not necessary better)

I've never been an apple person and I run my life on an android phone so it can be done. As other people have said the advantage is there are many different android phones whereas with apple it's iphone or bust and there's not much choice.

Also apple stuff is super expensive.

I use Android and I really like TalkBack, but it can take some time to get used to the gestures.

This is lame, but my favorite thing about my phone is that it has six physical buttons.