Apple tops list of world's biggest brands

Apple has beaten Google to become the world’s biggest brand, according to Interband’s 2015 Best Global Brands list.

The US technology giant was valued at $170bn, a 43% change in value from 2014.

It surged ahead of Google, which came in second with a total brand value of $120bn.

Coca-Cola, Microsoft and IBM rounded out the top five.

Toyota led the non-US based brands, coming in sixth at $49bn.

Facebook had the biggest increase in brand value, rising 54% to $22bn

The highest ranked UK-based company was HSBC which was ranked 37th with a total value of $11.6bn, a drop of 11%.