Apple’s brand ranking in China slips from 11th to 24th place over US tensions

An Apple brand ranking in China shows that the company fell from 11th place in 2018 to 24th place this year, likely as a result of consumer unhappiness with recent actions by the US government.

The rankings are compiled annually by brand consultancy Prophet…

Prophet says that the index asks consumers to rank brands by their relevance to their lives.

At Prophet, we believe that the strongest brands are the ones that are relentlessly relevant and are making a difference in consumer’s lives. We surveyed nearly 13,500 Chinese customers on 258 brands across 27 industries to develop our customer-based brand relevance ranking.

Seven of the top 10 brands this year were Chinese ones. The exceptions were Android, Intel, and Audi.

The company said this was a notable theme this year.

Chinese consumers are eager to support local brands that stand tall on the global stage. As Chinese companies increasingly demonstrate world-leading innovations, people and businesses alike are more confident and ambitious. And as appreciation of Chinese heritage continues to grow, one of the most striking findings in our Index is the surge of local brands.

Chinese consumer kickback against US brands has been fueled by the Trump administration’s trade war with China, imposing a 25% import tariff on a huge range of Chinese-made products entering the US, and by putting an export blacklist on Huawei.

Import tariffs so far apply to desktop Macs, the Apple Watch, AirPods (and all wireless Beats headphones) and the HomePod. The iPhone escaped the first round but will be hit from December 15 along with almost all other Apple products.

• iPhone
• iPad
• MacBook/Air/Pro
• iPod touch
• Apple TV
• Apple Pro Display XDR
• Keyboards
• Wired headphones

Apple is so far absorbing the tariffs on US sales.

There has been a growing campaign in China to boycott Apple products, with some going to far as to label buying iPhones and other Apple devices as ‘unpatriotic.’ The latest Apple brand ranking suggests that this idea is gaining ground, though the appeal of the iPhone 11 appears to be countering this, with Chinese demand reportedly high.

Via Business Insider