14 DAY TRIAL // Amazon is once again the most valuable brand in the world, according to the Brand Finance Global 500 analysis for 2018, as it managed to remain the leading company in the last 12 months thanks to a 42% increase versus the 2017 brand value.
Previously ranked third in the charts, Amazon reached a value of $150,811 million, beating runner-up Apple with $146,311 million. The Cupertino-based tech giant has managed to secure the second place in the chart with a 37% growth.
On the other hand, Google, which last year was the leading brand, dropped to third place due to a growth of just 10%, now being valued at $120,911 million. Samsung, Facebook, and AT&T are next, while Microsoft dropped from the fifth place to number 7 with a 6% growth to $81,163 million.
Chinese companies growing fast
Brand Finance says Apple has been left behind by Apple due to more or less failed iPhone X experiment, which didn’t help the company post bigger growth and re-become the leading brand worldwide.
“Apple has failed to diversify and grown over-dependent on sales of its flagship iPhones, responsible for two thirds of revenue. Poor Q4 2017 sales of iPhone X at only 29 million handsets fell short of expectations, and the model is predicted to be discontinued later this year. With the advent of emerging world brands like Huawei, Apple’s increasing focus on what are effectively luxury products may cost the brand a fair share of the global mass market, limiting the potential for brand value growth,” the research shows.
This is the first time technology companies take all the top five places in the charts, and Brand Finance also notes that Chinese brands are growing at a substantial pace these days.
One such example is State Grid, a state-owned utilities company based in China, which entered the top for the first time this year and reached position 19th thanks to a brand value of $40.9 billion.
