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Not Apple median wages. That would probably be closer to 2~3 months.

Apple Engineering Compensation ranges from ~$150,000 to ~$450,000 per year (including salary, bonus, and stock compensation).

$15,000 would be between a week and just over a month of compensation.

See https://www.levels.fyi/salary/Apple/

The most common employees at Apple are not engineers.

Not all employees working at or directly for Apple make Apple salaries. All the contractors they hire are likely to bring that median down significantly.

18 months? That would make the median hourly wage ~$5.20

I don't think that's right. Perhaps you meant 18 weeks?

It's still irrelevant, as it's not a something an individual is paying. The parent comment merely scales Apple's cash on hand to numbers we can understand.

But it's the price for a company, not for a person.