Apple keeps crown as world’s most valuable brand in 2026

ANKARA

Apple still reigned supreme among the world’s most valuable brands in 2026, according to Brand Finance’s Global 500 2026 report set for release Tuesday.

The iPhone maker was again world’s most valuable brand with an estimated brand value of $607.6 billion, rising from last year’s $574.5 billion, according to the list.

Apple was followed by Microsoft with $565.3 billion and Google with $433.1 billion. Last year, Microsoft’s value was around $461.1 billion and Google’s was $413 billion.

Amazon came in fourth among the most valuable brands with $369.9 billion, followed by chipmaker Nvidia with $184.3 billion, Chinese firm TikTok with $153.3 billion, American retailer Walmart with $141 billion, South Korea’s Samsung with $119.2 billion, Facebook with $107 billion, and Chinese State Grid Corporation (SGCC) with $102.4 billion.

The list showed that US brands dominated the list with 192 firms, followed by 68 Chinese firms, 33 Japanese, 33 French, 26 German, and 25 UK-based brands.

Muhterem Ilguner, Türkiye director at Brand Finance, told Anadolu that global economic growth has been sluggish, but Brand Finance data showed a different picture.

“The value of the world’s 500 most valuable companies increased 10% compared to the previous year, totaling $10.4 trillion,” he said, noting that the growth of the world’s 500 most valuable brands exceeded the global economic growth of 3.2%, citing UN data.

He noted that the US accounted for 53.4% of the total brands on the list, while China had a 15% share among the Global 500 2026, worth a total of $1.6 trillion.

Ilguner said Germany had a 5.6% share in the Global 500 this year worth $580.2 billion, while Japan had a 4.7% share worth $490 billion and France had a 4% share worth $426.5 billion. In the meantime, Argentina had the lowest share with one brand worth $6 billion.

The highest-ranking sector in terms of brand value was banking with 79 brands, totaling $1.3 trillion in brand value, making up 12.5% of the Global 500, followed by the media sector with 25 brands worth $1.1 trillion, the electronics sector with 17 brands worth $835.4 billion, the internet and software sector with 11 brands worth $759.4 billion, and the retail sector with 40 brands worth $707 billion.

The lowest value was seen in a mining and iron-steel brand worth $5.5 billion, he said.

“The highest rise in brand value was seen in the UK-based fintech firm Revolut with a 239% surge year-on-year, while Tesla saw the largest decline with 35.8%,” he added.

“Turkish firms did not make the cut this year, and the value gap between the most valuable Turkish brand and the brand at the bottom of this list (worth $5.2 billion) showed that it has been widening for the past 10 years,” he noted.

“While other countries are enriching themselves through brands, Türkiye needs to prioritize branding,” he added.