Many ppl complain xiaomi especially redmi phone not durable.

I had been debating that same issue cos I may be needing new phones soon. Watched vid reviews of both brands and read till blur. In the end, I decided it'd have to be Xiaomi because the IR Blaster does come in handy at times.
Now I'm wondering if I should stick to the cheaper ones or splurge on a model that has AMOLED screen. It would be nice to have a zero or minimal camera bump and no dewdrop/punch hole in the screen...I think I'd find those things irritating.

Mi high end model cam okay okay only if mid one lose 9 street to realme. Even if use same camera module mi vs realme ( alot of Thier mid use same camera module ) realme slightly better. Camera all about software, look at mate 20 pro alot mid phone use the same camera module but only mate 20 pro can take night mode pic

If you don't like bloatware and ads on your phone realme is a great brand,

Alot of mid/low end xiaomi (redmi) have screen and battery bloat issue

The UI for Realme mirrors OnePlus, quite lightwweight and close to stock

ill choose realme bcause gps is very inportantant to me.....mi a1 has dispointed me baddly...very bad exp on it

can't speak for realme, but i've been using two xiaomi devices over 6 years and satisfied with my purchases