Apple Tops Fortune's 'Most Admired Companies' List For Sixth Year Running

Apple has won the number one slot in Fortune's annual "World's Most Admired Companies" list for the sixth year in a row.

fortuneThe ranking is based on a large-scale poll of corporate executives, directors, and industry analysts who were asked to rank companies by nine key attributes: Innovation, People management, Use of corporate assets, Social responsibility, Quality of management, Financial soundness, Long-term investment, Quality of products/services and Global competitiveness. Apple scored #1 in all nine categories.

Apple has had a rough time lately with its stock price in a free fall and the widely publicized failure of its Maps feature. However, it remains a financial juggernaut, posting $13 billion in net income last quarter, making it the most profitable company in the world during that period. The company has its fanatical customer base, and it still refuses to compete on price, making the iconic iPhone and iPad products that are still widely seen as prestige devices. Competition may be stiff, but so far it remains behind: In Q4 2012, the iPhone 5 was the world's best selling smartphone, followed in second place by the iPhone 4S.

The announcement is a bit of an embarrassment for Brad Chase, founding partner of Capitol Media Partners, who wrote a Forbes guest post earlier this week predicting that "bumbling" Apple would lose its number one slot and arguing that Fortune would have to "defy logic" to place Apple at the top once again. Confusion between Fortune and Forbes led to Chase's opinion piece being misreported by several media outlets earlier this week as Apple having actually lost its slot in a Forbes ranking.

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Shows Off a Key Reason to Upgrade to the iPhone 17

Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie. "Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
wwdc sans text feature

Apple Rumored to Announce New Product on February 19

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld. The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld. Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
Apple Logo Zoomed

Tim Cook Teases Plans for Apple's Upcoming 50th Anniversary

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:54 pm PST by
Apple turns 50 this year, and its CEO Tim Cook has promised to celebrate the milestone. The big day falls on April 1, 2026. "I've been unusually reflective lately about Apple because we have been working on what do we do to mark this moment," Cook told employees today, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "When you really stop and pause and think about the last 50 years, it makes your heart ...
Finder Siri Feature

Why Apple's iOS 26.4 Siri Upgrade Will Be Bigger Than Originally Promised

Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do. The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up. Upgraded Architecture The next-generation...
iOS 26

iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by
While the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate is now available ahead of a public release, the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April. Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far. iOS 26.3 iPhone to Android Transfer Tool iOS 26.3 makes it easier...

Top Rated Comments

cclloyd Avatar
169 months ago
You don't see Samsung on that list.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AQUADock Avatar
169 months ago
google could take no 1 with the innovation they have come up lately.
Chromebook Pixel the $1000+ web browser, so innovative. :rolleyes: Google glass however is a different story but thats not released yet.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Daze & Confuse Avatar
169 months ago
You don't see Samsung on that list.

You don't see any non-US companies on that list.....

And any list that puts Coca-Cola and Starbucks in the top 5 most 'admired' companies on the entire planet can't be taken that seriously.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pgiguere1 Avatar
169 months ago
google could take no 1 with the innovation they have come up lately.
I don't know, as much as Google are able to come up with innovative products, those products (the physical ones) rarely ever affect our daily lives because they rarely are worth buying, or even possible to buy.

How many people do you know personally who own (or plan to own soon) a Chromebook Pixel? A Nexus Q? A Google TV? Google Fiber? How many plan to buy Google Glass at launch?

Now how many people do you know who use recent Apple products daily? Who buy new ones at launch?

Google mostly make niche products that aren't necessarily bad, but still niche products for a reason or another. Most of their income comes from services, mostly targeted ads with information mined from services like web search, maps, gmail, youtube etc. which haven't significantly evolved recently.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
drewyboy Avatar
169 months ago
egg in face much? Just goes to show these investors know **** about running a company... well other than into the ground.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Yelmurc Avatar
169 months ago
I'd like to see this survey by region. How does Apple hold up outside the U.S. compared to inside the U.S?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)