Samsung Group now ranks third in the world in terms of brand value while its archrival Apple remains the most valuable firm for the sixth consecutive year, according to brand consultant Brand Finance on Monday.

Apple’s brand value this year, which stood at $145.9 billion, up from $128.3 billion last year, is almost double that of Samsung, which stands at $83.2 billion.

Samsung, which runs affiliates in various sectors including its flagship Samsung Electronics, saw its brand value increase around $1.5 billion on-year while Google's brand value jumped by $17.3 billion to $94 billion over the same period to clinch the second place.

Most of the top 10 most valuable brands were from the information and communications technology sector except for e-commerce firm Amazon, retail giant Walmart and financial services firm Wells Fargo, which took the fourth, eighth and 10th places, respectively. 

Microsoft came in fifth followed by network operators Verizon and AT&T, in that order. Chinese telecom firm China Mobile took the ninth place for the second year in a row.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)