Brand Finance, a leading brand business valuation and strategy consultancy based in London, has published its latest version of the Brand Finance Global 500 report, revealing the most valuable brands in the world.

Brand Finance measures the value of the brands by using the "Royalty Relief approach," which includes, "estimating the likely future sales that are attributable to a brand" and "calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for the use of the brand." Thousands of the world's biggest brands are involved.

Apple has topped the list for the last five years, but has dropped to the second place this year. It has not generated significant revenues from newer products such as its Apple Watch, and failed to demonstrate that it is developing innovative technologies. The brand now has to compete with a number of Chinese smartphone brands such as Huawei and OnePlus, in addition to its old rival Samsung.

Google is now the world’s most valuable brand with a brand value of US$109.47 billion. Apple has a brand value of US$107.14 billion and Amazon.com is valued at US$106.4 billion.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) ranks 10th.

The following are the top 10 most valuable brands of 2017.

 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China [File photo]

Country: China

Brand value: US$47.83 billion

Brand rating: AAA