New Study: Microsoft Unseats Apple as Top Brand in the U.S.

Microsoft has regained the top spot in a U.S. brand survey by Forrester Research, dislodging Apple which slid down to second place.

YouTube/Playinfinite

On third and fourth spots are also tech giants, Sony and Samsung, respectively.

Tracy Stokes, the Forrester analyst who led the survey team, said she was surprised also by the results. Explaining the slide down of Apple, she said the Cupertino-based manufacturer of iPhones and iPad "lost a bit of its lustre."

Ms Stokes pointed out that time is a vital factor in the unexpected result of the survey, acknowledging that had the study been conducted a year or 18 months earlier, it would be a different brand that would be on top of the list.

Majority of the 4,500 Americans who participated in the survey pointed to Microsoft's One Microsoft strategy, which made it so ubiquitous that people generally had no alternative to Windows and Office.

"Microsoft has a utilitarian essentiality, not the kind of emotional essentiality that Apple relies on," she added, quoted by The Drum.

The study found that Apple and Samsung scored high among younger respondents, but Microsoft enjoyed broad support from all age groups.