Apple Retains Most Valuable Brand Title in 2022; Amazon, Google, Microsoft Amongst Top 10 Brands: Report

Apple has retained the title of the world's most valuable brand in 2022, with a valuation of a whopping $355.1 billion (roughly Rs. 26,72,600 crore), according to a report. The valuation of the Cupertino company increased 35 percent — thanks to the growth of its recognition in the market. Following Apple, Amazon and Google have been named among the top-three most valuable brands in the year. TikTok, on the other hand, has emerged as the world's fastest-growing brand, with its valuation increasing 215 percent in 2022.

Brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance said in its latest ranking report that Apple became the first brand to reach a $3 trillion market valuation. The branding of the company grew from $263.37 billion (roughly Rs. 19,83,000 crore) in 2021 to $355.1 billion in 2022.

“The iPhone still accounts for around half of the brand's sales. However, this year saw Apple give more attention to its other suite of products with a new generation of iPads, an overhaul to the iMac, and introduction of AirTags,” the firm said.

Apple's services including Apple Pay and Apple TV are also increasing importance to the brand's success, Brand Finance noted.

After Apple, Amazon is once again on the second position in Brand Finance's Global 500 ranking in 2022. The US e-commerce giant joined the iPhone maker to cross the $300 billion brand value mark with a 38 percent increase to $350.3 billion (roughly Rs. 26,36,800 crore).

“Amazon sees logistics as key, developing its own end-to-end supply chain through a growing fleet of trucks, vans, and aeroplanes. Across 2020 and 2021, the brand has invested an estimated $80 billion in its logistics division, compared to a combined $58 billion in the previous five years,” the firm said.

Google also saw a brand value growth of 38 percent to $263.4 billion (roughly Rs. 19,82,880 crore) this year, according to Brand Finance. The firm said that since Google relies on advertising for the vast majority of its revenue, it was hurt at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as advertising spend dropped. The search giant's business, however, rebounded as the world adjusted to the new normal, it added.

Following Google, Microsoft retained its spot on the fourth place in Brand Finance's Global 500 ranking this year. The company's brand value increased over 31 percent to $184.2 billion (roughly Rs. 13,86,390 crore).

Retail chain Walmart surpassed Samsung and became the fourth most valuable brand in 2022, as per Brand Finance. The company reached the brand value of $111.91 billion (roughly Rs. 8,41,000 crore) after getting a 20 percent increase from its last year's value of $93.18 billion (roughly Rs. 7,00,400 crore).

Samsung, on the other hand, dropped to the fifth position, with a brand value of $107.28 billion (roughly Rs. 8,06,200 crore). The company became the only South Korean company in the top-25 most valued brands by Brand Finance.

Unlike Samsung, Huawei marked growth in its position from 21 to nine in Brand Finance's 500 ranking this year. The Chinese company received a 29 percent growth to $71.2 billion (roughly Rs. 5,34,800 crore), the firm said.

“Huawei's smartphone business was hit hard by US sanctions, but it reacted positively by heavily stepping up investment in both domestic technology companies and R&D, as well as turning its focus to cloud services,” Brand Finance stated.

In addition to the leading top-value brands, TikTok has been named as the world's fastest-growing brand by Brand Finance. The short-video app tripled its brand value over the past year with a 215 percent increase to $59 billion (roughly Rs. 4,43,300 crore). It claimed the 18th spot among the world's top 500 most valuable brands noted by the brand valuation consultancy.

Similar to TikTok, Snapchat emerged as an app marking a growth in its brand value this year. The app's brand value grew 184 percent to $6.6 billion (roughly Rs. 49,600 crore), according to Brand Finance.

WeChat is also titled as the world's strongest brand for the second consecutive year by the firm. It carried a brand value of $62.30 billion (roughly Rs. 4,68,100 crore) in 2022, as per the report.

The tech sector was once again the most valuable in the Brand Finance Global 500 ranking in 2022. The firm said that the sector hit a cumulative brand value of close to $1.3 trillion (roughly Rs. 97,66,315 crore).

It is important to note that the brand values reported by Brand Finance do not reflect the market cap of the brands and are calculated independently by the firm.