Apple has retained its position as the world's most valuable brand for the 13th consecutive year, topping Interbrand's 2025 Best Global Brands ranking with an estimated brand value of $470.9 billion.


The annual Interbrand report evaluates the world's top 100 companies based on financial performance, brand strength in purchase decisions, and overall competitiveness. The report claims that combined brand value of all 100 entries rose 4.4% year over year to $3.6 trillion.

Apple first entered Interbrand's top 25 in 2008 and reached the number one position by 2013, maintaining its dominance through more than a decade of major shifts in consumer technology. Its valuation of $470.9 billion represents a 4% decline from last year, yet still places it comfortably ahead of second-place Microsoft, which grew 10% to $388.5 billion. Amazon, Google, and Samsung rounded out the top five with respective brand values of $319.9 billion, $317.1 billion, and $90.5 billion.

While Apple remains the world's most valuable brand, the report pointed to a dramatic surge from AI chipmaker Nvidia, which recorded a 116% increase in brand value to $43.2 billion, leaping from 36th to 15th place — the largest single-year gain in Interbrand's history. In addition, Instagram entered the top 10 for the first time, with a 27% rise in brand value, while Nike dropped from 14th to 23rd after losing 26% of its valuation. Tesla fell 13 positions to 25th place following a 35% decline.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook pledged to expand the company's investments in China during his latest visit to the country, signaling that Apple intends to maintain a strong presence in its most important manufacturing hub even as it continues diversifying production elsewhere, Reuters reports.


During meetings with Chinese government officials this week, Cook told China's industry minister Li Lecheng that Apple will keep investing in the country, with ongoing commitment to its Chinese supply chain and operations. Lecheng told Cook that China hopes Apple will continue to expand in the country and "grow together with Chinese suppliers," adding that the government intends to foster a favorable business environment for foreign companies.

Cook's visit comes at a sensitive time in U.S.–China relations, as both countries remain locked in a prolonged trade dispute mired by tariffs, export restrictions, and increasing pressure on technology companies to localize their manufacturing. The White House has promoted domestic production under initiatives such as the CHIPS and Science Act, while Beijing has sought to reinforce ties with foreign investors amid slowing economic growth.

Apple's position in this environment has grown increasingly complex. The company has spent the past two years shifting parts of its manufacturing to countries such as India and Vietnam to reduce its dependency on China, yet the majority of its iPhones and other key products continue to be assembled by Chinese partners. Cook's latest assurances in China underscore that, despite diversification efforts, China remains integral to Apple's global operations.

Apple remains caught between competing political and economic pressures. U.S. regulators have intensified scrutiny of American firms operating in China, while Chinese authorities have increased oversight of foreign technology companies. Yet Apple has so far remained largely unscathed compared to other U.S. firms such as Nvidia and Qualcomm, both of which have faced regulatory investigations in China.

Apple's Chief Operating Officer Sabih Khan joined Cook for the visit, meeting with Lens Technology, one of Apple's longtime Chinese suppliers responsible for producing glass covers for the iPhone and Apple Watch.
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Apple is preparing day-one software updates for its new iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, and Vision Pro models.


iPadOS 26.0.1 (23A8464), macOS 26.0.1 (25A8364), and visionOS 26.0.1 (23M8340) should be available upon the launch of the new ‌iPad Pro‌, ‌MacBook Pro‌, and Vision Pro, which each feature the M5 chip.

All three of the new devices likely have the current versions of their operating systems pre-installed. It is not yet clear what's in the new versions of iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS, but day-one updates usually include essential bug fixes.

The updated ‌iPad Pro‌, ‌MacBook Pro‌, and Vision Pro are now available to pre-order, and will begin arriving to customers and launch in stores on Wednesday, October 22.
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Apple will bring the Vision Pro companion app to the iPad with the release of iPadOS 26.1, marking the first time ‌iPad‌ users can manage and explore spatial content for the headset directly from their devices.


Apple mentioned the expansion in the press release for the new Vision Pro with the M5 chip. The Vision Pro app was first introduced earlier this year with iOS 18.4, giving iPhone users the ability to browse and download apps, games, and media experiences for the Vision Pro without needing to wear the headset.

The app features a Discover page that highlights curated recommendations for "new and noteworthy experiences available on Apple Vision Pro," including categories such as Immersive Video, 3D movies, and other spatial apps. The My Vision Pro page within the app provides device-specific information and tools. The app also includes guest management features.

The Vision Pro app was automatically installed for iPhone users after updating to iOS 18.4 in April, and the iPadOS 26.1 release will extend the same integration to iPads. iPadOS 26.1 is likely to be released later this month or in early November.
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Apple's artificial intelligence division has lost another senior executive, with Ke Yang, who was recently appointed to lead the company's AI-driven web search effort, departing for Meta, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.


Yang had only recently taken over Apple's newly created Answers, Knowledge, and Information group, known internally as "AKI." The team is responsible for developing technology to make Siri more ChatGPT-like, including the ability to retrieve live information from the web. The AKI project is said to be a central component of Apple's planned ‌Siri‌ overhaul, which is currently scheduled for release in March 2026. The update is said to include features that were delayed from earlier this year, such as allowing ‌Siri‌ to access personal data and handle more complex, multi-step requests.

Yang's promotion to head of AKI came just weeks ago following the departure of Robby Walker, another longtime Apple executive who had been leading the group. Yang had previously overseen the search-focused portion of AKI before being elevated to lead the division in full, reporting directly to John Giannandrea, Apple's senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy. With Yang's exit, the AKI team will now report to Benoit Dupin, one of Giannandrea's deputies responsible for Apple's machine learning infrastructure.

The AKI project has reportedly become a major element of Apple's efforts to close the gap with rivals such as OpenAI, Perplexity, and Google Gemini, all of which have made rapid advances in AI-powered search and conversational interfaces. Gurman describes the Answers feature as a new layer of ‌Siri‌ designed to synthesize responses from live internet data, allowing it to deliver up-to-date answers and contextual information.

Yang's departure is the latest in a growing series of exits from Apple's artificial intelligence division, which has reportedly seen more than a dozen senior researchers and engineers leave this year alone. Many of those departures were from the company's Foundation Models team, which is tasked with developing Apple's core generative AI models. That unit was led by Ruoming Pang, who also left for Meta earlier this year to help establish a new research division known as Superintelligence Labs.


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