Segment Information and Geographic Data - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Jun. 25, 2011	Jun. 26, 2010	Jun. 25, 2011	Jun. 26, 2010
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of countries with Apple retail stores	11		11
Number of High Profile Stores	16		16
Retail
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Operating Expenses of high-profile stores allocated to corporate marketing	$ 26	$ 18	$ 75	$ 54

Number of countries with Apple retail stores, including the U.S.

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Namespace Prefix:	aapl
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- Definition

Number of high profile stores open as of the balance sheet date.

+ Details

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- Definition

Expenditures for planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services. Costs of public relations and corporate promotions are typically considered to be marketing costs.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 225
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.4)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6880815&loc=d3e20235-122688

+ Details

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Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ Details

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