NEW DELHI

Huawei increased its brand value by 22% in the past year and now ranks 48^th in the Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands according to the latest BrandZ™ report published earlier this week. The annual brand study, compiled by WPP and Kantar Millward Brown, notes that Huawei has now featured for the third consecutive year in the Top 50 global brands, as Chinese brands outperform their U.S. counterparts for the first time in the study.

The total brand value of BrandZ™ Top 100 reached US$4.4 trillion seeing an increase of 204% over the past twelve years. The total net growth of all listed brands is now close to US$750 billion with all categories achieving full growth for the first time on record. Technology companies by far lead the global list taking eight out of ten places in the Top 10, with a combined brand value of more than half (56%) of the total brand value of the Top 100 companies.

Chinese brands are arguably the most eye-catching group in this year’s edition of the BrandZ™ report, now in its thirteenth year.

Tencent, Alibaba and Huawei are just some of the leading names among the fourteen Chinese companies whose total brand value increased by 47% year-on-year. China’s brands have also seen their growth rate surpass that of their U.S. counterparts for the first time in the study. It is the fourth consecutive year for Huawei on the BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands. The company’s brand value and ranking have grown steadily year-on-year thanks to the strong performance of smartphones, tablets and the brand’s global expansion.

The rising influence of Huawei has not gone unnoticed in other major brand studies. Last week Forbes revealed its Most Valuable Brands of 2018 list in which Huawei, with a value of $8.4 billion, ranked 79^th in the Top 100 as the sole Chinese brand. Earlier in February this year, Huawei was listed 25^th on the Brand Finance Top 500 Global Brand Value of 2018 with a brand value of US$38.046 billion.

According to IDC, there were 336.1 million units shipped globally in the first quarter of 2018, down 2.4% year-on-year, showing an overall downturn in the global smartphone industry. However, despite an overall decrease in smartphone shipments, the average selling price of smartphones actually increased year-on-year by 21% to 374 U.S. dollars, as reported by GFK.

As the third largest smartphone supplier in the world, Huawei did not only outperform the market, but also grew the market share steadily (11.7%). Moreover, the market share of Huawei’s high-end models (above $500 US dollars) increased to more than 10% driven in part by the breakthrough growth in key high-end regions such as Europe and the Middle East. Along with the global launch of the P20 series, Huawei has firmly established itself in the global high-end market and its brand influence has further improved.

According to Ipsos, in 2017, Huawei’s global brand awareness and consumer consideration increased to 86% making it the fastest growing brand among global technology companies in the past six years. Brand perception and attributes such as technology leadership, design and trustworthiness have all gradually surged.

With its high-quality products and trend-setting technological innovations, Huawei is bucking the international industry trends as it gradually moves towards becoming a global and iconic tech brand.