Apple vs PayPal Interview Questions
Apple lists 300 LeetCode interview questions while PayPal lists 105. They share 60 problems — 20% of Apple's bank and 57% of PayPal's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 240 Apple-only and 45 PayPal-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 60 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Apple and PayPal.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Apple-specific problems like Design Hit Counter, Longest Common Prefix, Rotate Array and PayPal-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: PayPal skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
60 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Apple and PayPal.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Valid Sudoku | Medium |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Top K Frequent Elements | Medium |
| Course Schedule | Medium |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Product of Array Except Self | Medium |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Kth Largest Element in an Array | Medium |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Subarray Sum Equals K | Medium |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Find First and Last Position of Element in Sorted Array | Medium |
| Find Median from Data Stream | Hard |
| Move Zeroes | Easy |
| Climbing Stairs | Easy |
| Search a 2D Matrix II | Medium |
| Find the Index of the First Occurrence in a String | Easy |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Longest Consecutive Sequence | Medium |
| First Unique Character in a String | Easy |
| Maximal Square | Medium |
| Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree | Hard |
Showing top 30 of 60 shared problems.
Unique to Apple (240)
Problems in Apple's list that do not appear at PayPal.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Design Hit Counter | Medium |
| Longest Common Prefix | Easy |
| Rotate Array | Medium |
| Reverse Linked List | Easy |
| Course Schedule II | Medium |
| Valid Palindrome | Easy |
| Reverse Words in a String | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock II | Medium |
| Reverse Integer | Medium |
| Merge k Sorted Lists | Hard |
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| Time Based Key-Value Store | Medium |
Unique to PayPal (45)
Problems in PayPal's list that do not appear at Apple.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Apple and PayPal share?
Apple and PayPal share 60 LeetCode interview questions. 240 problems appear only in Apple's list and 45 appear only in PayPal's list.
What topics overlap most between Apple and PayPal?
The most common shared topics between Apple and PayPal are Array (21 shared questions), Hash Table (9 shared questions), Matrix (6 shared questions), Sorting (6 shared questions), String (6 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Apple or PayPal?
Apple has 76 Easy, 178 Medium, and 46 Hard questions. PayPal has 19 Easy, 69 Medium, and 17 Hard questions. PayPal has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Apple and PayPal?
Start with the 60 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Apple-specific and 20 PayPal-specific questions to round out your prep.