Washington, March 2 (IANS): Apple's corporate reputation took a hit in the first quarter of 2017, according to a recent market research study that placed the Cupertino-headquartered tech giant at 20th place, far behind Google, placed fifth.

In 2017, Apple slipped 10 spots from last year's ranking, according to Reputation Institute's Global RepTrak 100, a ranking that measures public perception towards the world's top companies.

The study assigns rankings to large corporations across a number of industries, including tech, automotive, consumer goods and luxury brands. 

The survey measured the public perception twoards the top companies on seven key rational dimensions of reputation -- products and services, innovation, workplace, governance, citizenship, leadership and performance. More than 170,000 ratings were compiled for the study.

Luxury watchmaker Rolex took the top spot on this year's RepTrak 100 list released this week. 

Consumer toymaker LEGO followed in second place, while Walt Disney took the third position.

Apple's rival Samsung posted the most notable decline this year, taking 70th place overall from last year's 17th.

Microsoft dropped out of the top 10 in the first quarter to finish in 11th place, Appleinsider.com reported.