Apple vs IBM Interview Questions
Apple lists 300 LeetCode interview questions while IBM lists 115. They share 41 problems — 14% of Apple's bank and 36% of IBM's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 259 Apple-only and 74 IBM-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 41 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Apple and IBM.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Apple-specific problems like Number of Islands, Design Hit Counter, Reverse Linked List and IBM-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Apple skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
41 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Apple and IBM.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Longest Common Prefix | Easy |
| Rotate Array | Medium |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Product of Array Except Self | Medium |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Reverse Integer | Medium |
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Subarray Sum Equals K | Medium |
| Subarray Product Less Than K | Medium |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Climbing Stairs | Easy |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Word Break | Medium |
| String Compression | Medium |
| Find the Index of the First Occurrence in a String | Easy |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| Remove Duplicates from Sorted Array | Easy |
| Count the Number of Incremovable Subarrays II | Hard |
| Task Scheduler | Medium |
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
Showing top 30 of 41 shared problems.
Unique to Apple (259)
Problems in Apple's list that do not appear at IBM.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Design Hit Counter | Medium |
| Reverse Linked List | Easy |
| Valid Sudoku | Medium |
| Top K Frequent Elements | Medium |
| Course Schedule II | Medium |
| Course Schedule | Medium |
| Valid Palindrome | Easy |
| Reverse Words in a String | Medium |
| Kth Largest Element in an Array | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock II | Medium |
| Merge k Sorted Lists | Hard |
Unique to IBM (74)
Problems in IBM's list that do not appear at Apple.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Apple and IBM share?
Apple and IBM share 41 LeetCode interview questions. 259 problems appear only in Apple's list and 74 appear only in IBM's list.
What topics overlap most between Apple and IBM?
The most common shared topics between Apple and IBM are Array (22 shared questions), Two Pointers (10 shared questions), Hash Table (8 shared questions), String (8 shared questions), Sorting (6 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Apple or IBM?
Apple has 76 Easy, 178 Medium, and 46 Hard questions. IBM has 33 Easy, 73 Medium, and 9 Hard questions. Apple has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Apple and IBM?
Start with the 41 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Apple-specific and 20 IBM-specific questions to round out your prep.