WhatsApp, Apple and Google top YouGov’s Technology Rankings 2021 in MENA

• These tech giants have the most positive impression among consumers in UAE, Saudi and Egypt
• WhatsApp and Instagram enjoyed a good year in the region, appearing in the list of all three countries
• Korean tech giant Samsung features prominently in the UAE & KSA rankings, also topping the global list this year
• Egypt top 10 is dominated by social media and internet brands, with five leading names making up the top 10 list

YouGov’s Technology Rankings 2021 MENA reveal Apple, Google and WhatsApp are the brands with the most positive impression among consumers in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

These rankings are calculated using data we collect from members of the public around the globe every day, for our BrandIndex tool. The brands in the YouGov Technology Rankings 2021 were ranked based on a 12-month average Impression score - a net measure of whether a consumer has a positive or negative impression of a brand.

The UAE top 10 list is led by WhatsApp (Impression score of 54.5). Despite facing a tough year with regulatory and reputational challenges around the world, the instant-messaging giant maintains its positive impression among consumers in the UAE, securing the top spot in the rankings.

Along with WhatsApp, several other leading internet and social media brands feature in the list. Facebook secures a spot in fifth (40.6), followed by Instagram and LinkedIn- at sixth (36.7) and seventh (30.7), respectively.

Korean tech giant Samsung ranks second (with a score of 52.5), while Apple and Google follow closely in third (52.4) and fourth (49.1), respectively. Multinational tech companies Sony (25.6), Microsoft (27.8) and Huawei (24.8) also appear in the 2021 KSA tech rankings.

Global technology company Apple tops the rankings in Saudi Arabia. The past twelve months saw a host of new launches from the brand, making it the tech brand with the most positive impression (46.6) among consumers in KSA.

Apple is followed by WhatsApp (44.8) and Samsung (44.6) in second and third, respectively. In addition to these brands, the top 10 list in KSA features Korean electronics brand LG (28.1), along with tech giants such as Microsoft (25.3) and Sony (24.9).

Despite a challenging past year globally over a diplomatic row, Huawei manages to maintain a positive impression among KSA residents, parking itself in fifth (32.8) in the 2021 KSA rankings.

Google, Twitter and Instagram also feature in the list, at fourth (43.0), sixth (32.4) and seventh (32.4), respectively.

Google ranks first in the 2021 Egypt rankings, with an impression score of 52.3. The top 10 rankings see a prominence of internet and social media brands. WhatsApp and Facebook feature in second (50.6) and third (44.6), and Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn occupy the fifth (27.0), seventh (20.3) and eighth (17.3) spot, respectively.

Chinese tech giant Huawei (28.5), British telecommunication company Vodafone (26.5), Korean electronics brand LG (16.6) & Japanese multinational conglomerate Sony (14.2) are other brands that feature in the top 10 list of Egypt.

Global Rankings

South Korean tech giant Samsung sits atop our 2021 global list. Another ubiquitous brand - Google - comes second on our list. Social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn also feature in the list.

Apple secures a spot at number 5 as do Chinese tech brands Huawei and Oppo- at number 10 and 25, respectively.

Some other familiar brands to make it into the global top 25 include Panasonic, LG, Bosch, Philips, Sony, Microsoft, Siemens, HP and Yahoo!.

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Methodology: The brands in the YouGov Technology Rankings 2021 were ranked based on the Impression score, which is a measure of whether a consumer has a positive or negative impression of a brand calculated by taking the average over a period of 12 months.

The rankings chart shows the brands with the highest average Impression score between March 1, 2020 to February 28, 2021. The scores are representative of the general population of adults 18 and over (some are online representative).

All Impression scores listed have been rounded to a single decimal place; however, we have used additional precision to assign ranks. All brands have been tracked for at least six months to be included in the rankings.

Where brands are tracked in more than one sector within one market, we have taken the average Impression score.

The categories we have included in the YouGov Technology Rankings 2021 are:

• Hardware manufacturers
• Software manufacturers
• Social media platforms

In most cases, only master brands have been included within the rankings. The exception to this rule is the inclusion of Instagram and WhatsApp where it may not be widely known by the public that Facebook is the parent company of these brands.

The categories we have excluded from the Technology Rankings are:

• Fintech/Payments
• Streaming/media platforms
• Gaming consoles
• Apps
• White goods and appliances
• Ecommerce/Online marketplaces*

*Amazon has not been included in the YouGov Technology Rankings as this brand will be included within the YouGov Retail Rankings in line with the primary sector tracked for the master brand in BrandIndex.

The above categories will feature in the relevant, subsequent YouGov sector rankings.