Although Apple is a big name in the technological industry, but the company do not have its own manufacturing facilities, as it produces everything in China because of the low manufacturing cost. This means that this technological giant has not expanded much vertically in its production line; however they outsource this task and ask other companies to produce components for them. Apple is continuously expanding its product line; however its production line is still constant but the company does operates and own all of its shops. The company has integrated horizontally by expanding on the services that they provide.

For a company like Apple expanding horizontally can be much easier than expanding vertically. Horizontal integration indicates the strategy of a business to increase a market share by occupying a similar company or business. The services that are offered by Apple include Apple online stores, Apple stores, iOS App store, iTunes Store, iCloud and iBooks. Another example of integrating horizontally can be the software that is being used by Apple, which is different from its competitors. The software that is offered by Apple is considered to be the key product offered by the firm, as without it all the products being offered by the company would be generic. The software link is considered to be horizontal, as it is considered to be something that is united as well as differentiates the products offered by Apple from its competitors by creating an exclusive brand image.