In a study done in Millward Brown’s annual BrandZ study you’ll find four of the top 5 most valuable brands to be tech-related with Apple sitting high atop that list. This study is done showing the brand value of the top companies in the world based on their financial data, market intelligence, and consumer measures of brand equity – all of this coming from Millward Brown. Apple is the top brand on earth with a brand value of $182.9 billion, this up a whopping 19% compared to last year.

This list does not change compared to last year, of course, with Apple taking top honors back in 2011 as well. Next in line is IBM with $156 billion in brand value followed by Google with $107.9 billion. The fourth entry in the list is the only non-tech brand in the top five, McDonalds, with $95 billion in worth with Microsoft sitting under the burgers with $76 billion.

The rest of the list should not come as too big a surprise with Coca-Cola soft drinks manning the 6th place spot with Marlboro cigarettes sitting in 8th place. Next is AT&T followed by Verizon followed by China Mobile – each of the bottom three here are Communication Providers, working with smartphones and tablets made by the likes of Apple and Google. Thusly we can say that the brand world is certainly mobile minded here in 2012, without a doubt!