Apple Inc (AAPL  ) pays some of the highest salaries in Silicon Valley, and for good reason. The Cupertino-based company is rarely the first to bring a product to market, but with the help of top-paid talent, Apple finds a way to do it better than everyone else.

Setting the Scene: It all began with Steve Jobs. The Apple co-founder didn't just introduce new products; he captivated the world with Apple's vision even before the details were revealed.

Jobs had a unique ability to turn a product launch into a compelling narrative, leaving audiences eagerly anticipating what would come next. He meticulously crafted these presentations, much like Apple carefully designs its products.

Apple continues this tradition today. Rather than spreading itself too thin, the company concentrates on excelling in select areas, employing top talent to bring its vision to life.

Taking A Bite Out Of The Apple: Apple doesn't make salary information public, but the tech giant is required to disclose offers in work-visa applications submitted to the U.S. Office of Foreign Labor Certification, as reported by Business Insider.

The highest base salary in the pay data was $322,000, offered to two of the company's software development engineer managers. The lowest offer Apple made was just over $102,000 to a business systems analyst. For comparison, Google (GOOG  ) (GOOGL  ) offered talent salaries as low as $55,000 and Microsoft (MSFT  ) made offers as low as $77,000.

The following data doesn't include stock-based compensation and grants that can significantly add to overall pay. It also excludes benefits, individual performance rewards and bonuses.

Here's a look at some of the base salary ranges Apple offered to prospective workers for open positions in recent years.

  • Global Supply Manager: $145,000 to $185,000
  • Engineering Project Manager: $144,912 to $185,203
  • Architectural/Engineering Manager: $200,750 to $286,874
  • Software Development Engineer Manager: $178,000 to $322,000
  • Hardware Development Engineer: $135,000 to $210,000
  • Software Development Engineer: $138,762 to $216,300
  • Manufacturing Design Engineer: $124,200 to $203,335
  • Machine Learning Engineer: $155,000 to $205,000
  • ASIC Design Engineer: $105,080 to $217,680
  • Systems Design Engineer: $134,307 to $217,990
  • AR/VR Development Engineer: $127,000 to $230,000
  • Application Development Engineer: $131,808 to $255,000
  • Financial Analyst: $110,000 to $181,406
  • Data Scientist: $119,000 to $186,929
  • HI Graphics Designer: $140,000 to $201,764
  • Legal Counsel: $210,000 to 225,000