Brand valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance has released its annual review of the state of tech brands, ranking Apple number one with a $145 billion brand value, up 14 percent from the prior year. Apple revenue for the last three months of 2015 was a record-breaking $75.3 billion. Though there has been much disappointment about slowing growth, this must be seen in the context of an exceptional period at the end of 2014 following the release of the iPhone 6, according to Brand Finance which concluded that “to not just maintain but increase sales in a saturated market is encouraging and assertions that Apple has gone rotten are premature.”
Finishing second–and some $50 billion-plus behind Apple–was Google with a brand value of nearly $95.2 billion, followed by Samsung at $71.2 billion, Amazon.com with $69.6 billion and Microsoft at some $67.2 billion.
Of Samsung, Brand Finance noted that the company was buoyed by the positive reception of the Galaxy S6, and that critics raved about the significantly improved design, which also put the Galaxy S6 on the radar of voguish iPhone users. The recently unveiled Galaxy S7 looks to follow in the footsteps of its predecessor but adds features such as water resistance, extended battery life and the sorely missed expandable storage option. Brand Finance also reported that revenues have also improved this year, most of them coming from Samsung’s semiconductor business which produces chips for most smartphone manufacturers, including, ironically, their fiercest rival, Apple.
Rounding out the Brand Finance top 10 were: GE in the number six slot at some $37.2 billion; Facebook ranked seventh at $34 billion; IBM in eighth place at $31.7 billion; Intel in ninth at $22.8 billion; and Oracle in the number 10 slot at $22.1 billion.
