Samsung is a renown brand name, and one that is hard to not notice in the world (even in the US), but brands are also about money. Valuable brands are expected to make money (otherwise, what’s the point?), and the Korean giant is right up there with the very best worldwide brands. How valuable of a brand is Samsung? So valuable that it’s now the third most valuable brand in the world.
The results from Brand Finance show that Samsung is third only to Apple (who took the no. 1 spot) as well as Android owner and search engine giant Google (who took the no. 2 position). Samsung did place above brands such as Amazon (4th), Microsoft (5th), Verizon (6th), AT&T (7th), WalMart (8th), Chinese carrier China Mobile (9th), and Wells Fargo (10th). Samsung brought in an additional $1.5 billion in brand value in 2015 to bring its total brand value to $83.2 billion.
Samsung's mobile division has been a big reason behind this feat with its top smartphone sales spot in India in 2015, but the company has had its share of trouble with smartphone sales in China after being the top-selling manufacturer in the country in 2013. The Galaxy S7 and S7 edge may just boost Samsung’s sales in the right direction, since Samsung’s going out of its way to woo Chinese customers with the removal of its company branding from the front of its latest smartphones in China (and in Korea, its native country) and give the edge, a signature design in high demand, to Chinese manufacturers. Perhaps it’s the case that consumers will see the edge as Samsung innovation and return the Korean giant to greatness there. Samsung Electronics’ mobile chief is positive about the turnaround. Removing its corporate branding from the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge in Japan didn’t help Samsung’s sales last year, but a new year could bring a better outcome.
Samsung was ranked by Interbrand as the seventh best global brand in 2015, with Samsung Electronics coming in first in Saudi Arabia in 2015 and first in Russia for its fifth year in a row last year. Samsung was the second most valuable global brand according to Brand Finance in 2015 with a brand value of $81.7 billion in sales.
