Apple has for the last five years held sway as the world’s most valuable brand. However, Apple’s evangelists are beginning to lose their faith. Apple has failed to maintain its technological advantage and has repeatedly disillusioned its advocates with tweaks when material changes were expected.  With brand value falling 27% since early 2016 to US'07 billion, Apple lose its status as the Global 500 world’s most valuable brand. Apple’s loss has been Google’s gain. Six years after it last held the title in 2011, Google is now the world’s most valuable brand with a value of US'09 billion. 

Amazon’s 53% brand value growth meant it nearly secured the top spot for itself this year. The firm is growing strongly as it continues to both reshape the retail market and to capture an ever larger share of it. AT&T and Microsoft were ranked as 4th and 5th respectively according to the report.

Global's most valuable brands Top10:

Facebook continues to climb the ranks following 82% brand value growth, but has been outdone by China’s biggest tech brands. Alibaba, WeChat and Tencent have grown by 94%, 103% and 124% respectively. WeChat has over 850 million users and despite being largely confined to its domestic market, could soon start to challenge Facebook for user numbers. WeChat offers a more extensive range of services, than any comparable brand, from mobile payments to video games and text messaging to video sharing. As a result it is far more embedded in the life of the average user, even replacing work emails for many Chinese, opening the door to brand extension and further growth.

Ranks of the most valuable Chinese brands:

China's ICBC not only claimed the title as the most powerful banking brand, it was also the highest ranking of all Chinese brands. China Mobile, Alibaba, Huawei were also on the list.

Brand Finance Global 500 – Full Table