I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Apple (Cupertino, CA) in Sept 2016
Interview
Two phone screens, two on-sites, the second on-site is a design challenge. The design challenge is to design a battery door for iPod. The position is for the Apple watch team.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Showed me a luxury watch, asked me what can cause the sapphire screen to crack
The interview went well overall. The interviewer opened with a discussion about a project I'm proud of, then a beam scenario question that covered structural and load analysis, stress and deflection, and material selection — testing my ability to connect first-principles thinking across the full problem space.
I applied through university. I interviewed at Apple (Cupertino, CA) in Apr 2026
Interview
Interview with hiring manager then virtual onsite. They ask you general mechanical engineering questions as well as questions dependent on type of team and skills they are looking for. Not bad overall just brush up on basic beam deflection, GD&T, Design analysis etc.
They gave me a take home tolerance analysis worksheet. It was essentially a tolerance stack up for one of their products and felt fairly straight forward. Thought I answered it well but ultimately they decided to move forward with other candidates.