The World's No. 1 Brand Is Exactly Who You Think It Is

Apple's iPhones aren't the only things getting bigger—Cupertino's brand value increased 21 percent this year, reaching an impressive $118.9 billion, according to Interbrand.

Second-place Google is valued at $107.43 billion (a 15 percent increase from last year), marking the first time in the history of Interbrand's Best Global Brands ranking that two companies have exceeded values of $100 billion.

"Apple and Google's meteoric rise to more than $100 billion is truly a testament to the power of brand building," Jez Frampton, Interbrand's global CEO, said in a statement.

"These leading brands have reached new pinnacles—in terms of both their growth and in the history of Best Global Brands—by creating experiences that are seamless, contextually relevant, and increasingly based around an overarching ecosystem of integrated products and services, both physical and digital," he said.

The consultancy firm's top 100 Best Global Brands lineup includes 13 tech companies that are collectively worth $493.2 billion in brand value.

Facebook, reigning champ Apple, and Google represent the category's fastest-growing companies of the year, while Nokia experienced the largest decline in value, dropping from its 2013 position at No. 57 to 98th place after selling its handset business to Microsoft, which is sitting pretty in the top five.

Unsurprisingly, Nintendo's rough year brought it down a notch or 33: With a brand value of $4.1 billion, the Japanese game maker fell from 67 to No. 100.

"As consumers and devices become more connected and integrated, the data being generated is creating value for consumers, for brands, and for the world at large," Frampton said. "As a result, brands from all categories and sectors will get smarter—with products and devices working in concert with one another, across supply chains, and in tandem with our own individual data sets."

Chinese carrier Huawei is making a splash, recently cutting into the market share of industry leaders Samsung and Apple, and now making its debut as the first-ever Chinese company on Interbrand's list.

Interbrand determines the top 100 most valuable brands each year based on three aspects: financial performance, customer choice influence, and its command over pricing and company earnings.

Other tech firms on the list include IBM (No. 4), Samsung (No. 7), Amazon (No. 15 and rising), eBay (No. 28), Sony (No. 52), and Panasonic (No. 64).