What you seem to be looking for is not a brand but a label or a certification perhaps ?
If IKEA or Apple suddenly changed their aesthetic, they are probably going to be pushing out the same products... just with different packaging. The companies themselves remain the same as they were. People will have different feelings, depending on their reaction and how the branding people message this change, but ultimately the move is pointless as everything continues as before.
For an extreme example, look at the Blackwaters or Facebooks of the world.
Apple has a very strong brand, and if tomorrow they switched their logo and brand image to a cursive Ford style blue one it would need a strong justification behind it, a ton of employees would see such a change in a very negative way, and possibility think long and hard about their career path going from there, as the management might have lost their way.
Or the other way: when “Apple Computers” became “Apple” it wasn’t some random surface level change, but a reflection of how the company had deeply changed focus compared to its earlier days.
Branding and culture are rarely decoupled, and if any of those are strong enough they’ll change in lockstep.
PS: on brand and logo “refreshes”, like Peugeot moving to more a stylized lion, while those are arguably cosmetic, there is the same philosophy applied to the worker pool with “new blood” introduced to the company and processes and manufacturing moving along. In a way, the same thing is happening below and above the surface.
It's probably inevitable. We've reached peak abbreviation and minimization anyway.
Apple is defined by negative space. They are not complicated. They are not the same as everyone else. They are not spying on you(Or so some claim).
All the apple fans I know talk about simplicity and privacy more than any specific feature, and a lot of them appreciate simple things in all areas of life.
Changing the logo might really mess with the sense of simple quality.
- System 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
- Mac OS 8
- Mac OS 9
- Mac OS X
And it remained at "X" for about 16 years, with sometimes substantial releases being distinguished just by a big cat name or a decimal point. Arguably the "X" part stopped being part of the versioning, and simply became part of the brand but it was definitely redundant and "mac oh-ess-ex" is at best a bit clunky to say.
It certainly wasn't necessary, but I can at least understand why they'd want to do it.
macOS also aligns with capitalization of iOS, which is the more widespread brand.