IBM vs Samsung Interview Questions
IBM lists 115 LeetCode interview questions while Samsung lists 65. They share 18 problems — 16% of IBM's bank and 28% of Samsung's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 97 IBM-only and 47 Samsung-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 18 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both IBM and Samsung.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add IBM-specific problems like Find the Smallest Divisor Given a Threshold, Gray Code, Exclusive Time of Functions and Samsung-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Samsung skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
18 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both IBM and Samsung.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Longest Common Prefix | Easy |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Subarray Product Less Than K | Medium |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Next Permutation | Medium |
| Longest Increasing Subsequence | Medium |
| Rotate Array | Medium |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| Generate Parentheses | Medium |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
Unique to IBM (97)
Problems in IBM's list that do not appear at Samsung.
Unique to Samsung (47)
Problems in Samsung's list that do not appear at IBM.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do IBM and Samsung share?
IBM and Samsung share 18 LeetCode interview questions. 97 problems appear only in IBM's list and 47 appear only in Samsung's list.
What topics overlap most between IBM and Samsung?
The most common shared topics between IBM and Samsung are Array (13 shared questions), Two Pointers (6 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (6 shared questions), String (4 shared questions), Sorting (3 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: IBM or Samsung?
IBM has 33 Easy, 73 Medium, and 9 Hard questions. Samsung has 12 Easy, 36 Medium, and 17 Hard questions. Samsung has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both IBM and Samsung?
Start with the 18 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 IBM-specific and 20 Samsung-specific questions to round out your prep.