Apple Inc. Beats Samsung Out For China’s Top Brand

by Michelle Jones

It's been two years since Samsung unseated Apple Inc. as the most powerful mobile brand in China

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has recaptured the title of top mobile brand in China, according to the 2014 China Brand Power Index ranking, which is compiled by the China Brand Research Center. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) had held that title since 2012.


Why Apple beat Samsung

CNET reports that in order to come up with the ranking in the index, the China Brand Research Center polled 13,500 Chinese between the ages of 15 and 60 in 30 different cities. The poll lasted from August 2013 to January 2014 and covered questions about loyalty and brand awareness.

According to researchers, Apple beat Samsung as the most powerful mobile brand because of market share issues which resulted in declining customer loyalty. They said that Samsung focused too much on gaining market share in China and essentially ignored its customers’ concerns. The result was a brand management issue that caused Samsung to score lower than Apple did in the poll.

Apple focuses on China

Apple has made it no secret that China is an important market for it. The company has been doing quite a bit of damage control there, and the survey results suggest that the efforts are paying off. Apple took on a lot of warranty charges in China and CEO Tim Cook even apologized.

Also the Chinese state-run media said earlier this year that Apple’s iPhone is a threat to national security because it is able to track and time-stamp the locations of its users.
How Samsung stacked up against others

Samsung did, however, gain 24.6 points year over year, bringing its ranking for this year to 566.6 points. Apple topped that though, scoring 568.5 points in the rankings for mobile brands. Samsung also kept the top spot in color TVs, making this the fourth year in which the Korean electronics giant earned that ranking since 2011.

This is also the third consecutive year in which Samsung got the top spot for monitors. The company also earned a third place ranking in digital cameras, video cameras and laptops.