Guarantor Financial Information , Condensed Consolidating Balance Sheet (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Apr. 24, 2015	Apr. 25, 2014	Apr. 26, 2013	Apr. 27, 2012
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 4,843	$ 1,403	$ 919	$ 1,172
Investments	14,637	12,838
Accounts receivable, net	5,112	3,811
Inventories	3,463	1,725
Intercompany receivable	0	0
Tax assets	1,335	736
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	1,454	697
Total current assets	30,844	21,210
Property, plant, and equipment, net	4,699	2,392	2,490
Goodwill	40,530	10,593	10,329
Other intangible assets, net	28,101	2,286
Long-term tax assets	774	300
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intercompany loans receivable	0	0
Other assets	1,737	1,162
Total assets	106,685	37,943
Short-term borrowings	2,434	1,613
Accounts payable	1,610	742
Intercompany payable	0	0
Accrued compensation	1,611	1,015
Accrued income taxes	935	164
Deferred tax liabilities	119	19
Other accrued expenses	2,464	2,006
Total current liabilities	9,173	5,559
Long-term debt	33,752	10,315
Long-term accrued compensation and retirement benefits	1,535	662
Long-term accrued income taxes	2,476	1,343
Long-term intercompany loans payable	0	0
Long-term deferred tax liabilities	4,700	386
Other long-term liabilities	1,819	235
Total liabilities	53,455	18,500
Shareholders’ equity	53,230	19,443	18,671	17,113
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	106,685	37,943
Consolidating Adjustments | Medtronic Notes
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0	0	0
Investments	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	0	0
Inventories	0	0
Intercompany receivable	(297,311)	(94,970)
Tax assets	(164)	(59)
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	0	(379)
Total current assets	(297,475)	(95,408)
Property, plant, and equipment, net	(30)	(23)
Goodwill	0	0
Other intangible assets, net	0	0
Long-term tax assets	(428)	(387)
Investment in subsidiaries	(175,808)	(36,943)
Intercompany loans receivable	(29,734)	(293)
Other assets	0	0
Total assets	(503,475)	(133,054)
Short-term borrowings	0	0
Accounts payable	0	0
Intercompany payable	(297,311)	(94,970)
Accrued compensation	0	0
Accrued income taxes	0	0
Deferred tax liabilities	(164)	(59)
Other accrued expenses	(30)	(402)
Total current liabilities	(297,505)	(95,431)
Long-term debt	0	0
Long-term accrued compensation and retirement benefits	0	0
Long-term accrued income taxes	0	0
Long-term intercompany loans payable	(29,734)	(293)
Long-term deferred tax liabilities	(428)	(387)
Other long-term liabilities	0	0
Total liabilities	(327,667)	(96,111)
Shareholders’ equity	(175,808)	(36,943)
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	(503,475)	(133,054)
Consolidating Adjustments | CIFSA Notes
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	0	0
Investments	0
Accounts receivable, net	0
Inventories	0
Intercompany receivable	(21,036)
Tax assets	0
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	0
Total current assets	(21,036)
Property, plant, and equipment, net	(30)
Goodwill	0
Other intangible assets, net	0
Long-term tax assets	0
Investment in subsidiaries	(141,630)
Intercompany loans receivable	(28,076)
Other assets	0
Total assets	(190,772)
Short-term borrowings	0
Accounts payable	0
Intercompany payable	(21,036)
Accrued compensation	0
Accrued income taxes	0
Deferred tax liabilities	0
Other accrued expenses	(30)
Total current liabilities	(21,066)
Long-term debt	0
Long-term accrued compensation and retirement benefits	0
Long-term accrued income taxes	0
Long-term intercompany loans payable	(28,076)
Long-term deferred tax liabilities	0
Other long-term liabilities	0
Total liabilities	(49,142)
Shareholders’ equity	(141,630)
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	(190,772)
Parent Company Guarantor (Medtronic plc) | Medtronic Notes
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	263	0	0	0
Investments	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	0	0
Inventories	0	0
Intercompany receivable	259	0
Tax assets	0	0
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	4	0
Total current assets	526	0
Property, plant, and equipment, net	0	0
Goodwill	0	0
Other intangible assets, net	0	0
Long-term tax assets	0	$ 0
Investment in subsidiaries	70,255
Intercompany loans receivable	3,000	$ 0
Other assets	0	0
Total assets	73,781	0
Short-term borrowings	0	0
Accounts payable	0	0
Intercompany payable	20,506	0
Accrued compensation	1	0
Accrued income taxes	41	0
Deferred tax liabilities	3	0
Other accrued expenses	0	0
Total current liabilities	20,551	0
Long-term debt	0	0
Long-term accrued compensation and retirement benefits	0	0
Long-term accrued income taxes	0	0
Long-term intercompany loans payable	0	0
Long-term deferred tax liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	0	0
Total liabilities	20,551	0
Shareholders’ equity	53,230	0
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	73,781	0
Parent Company Guarantor (Medtronic plc) | CIFSA Notes
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	263
Investments	0
Accounts receivable, net	0
Inventories	0
Intercompany receivable	259
Tax assets	0
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	4
Total current assets	526
Property, plant, and equipment, net	0
Goodwill	0
Other intangible assets, net	0
Long-term tax assets	0
Investment in subsidiaries	70,255
Intercompany loans receivable	3,000
Other assets	0
Total assets	73,781
Short-term borrowings	0
Accounts payable	0
Intercompany payable	20,506
Accrued compensation	1
Accrued income taxes	41
Deferred tax liabilities	3
Other accrued expenses	0
Total current liabilities	20,551
Long-term debt	0
Long-term accrued compensation and retirement benefits	0
Long-term accrued income taxes	0
Long-term intercompany loans payable	0
Long-term deferred tax liabilities	0
Other long-term liabilities	0
Total liabilities	20,551
Shareholders’ equity	53,230
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	73,781
Subsidiary Issuer | Medtronic Notes
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	1,071	264	196	96
Investments	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	0	0
Inventories	165	154
Intercompany receivable	146,373	43,377
Tax assets	770	602
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	128	479
Total current assets	148,507	44,876
Property, plant, and equipment, net	976	954
Goodwill	1,607	1,565
Other intangible assets, net	39	51
Long-term tax assets	643	435
Investment in subsidiaries	41,218	36,943
Intercompany loans receivable	6,516	20
Other assets	678	573
Total assets	200,184	85,417
Short-term borrowings	1,110	1,262
Accounts payable	261	201
Intercompany payable	135,091	51,593
Accrued compensation	490	405
Accrued income taxes	371	144
Deferred tax liabilities	0	0
Other accrued expenses	600	0
Total current liabilities	137,923	53,605
Long-term debt	29,004	10,177
Long-term accrued compensation and retirement benefits	965	487
Long-term accrued income taxes	1,450	1,315
Long-term intercompany loans payable	10,218	273
Long-term deferred tax liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	207	117
Total liabilities	179,767	65,974
Shareholders’ equity	20,417	19,443
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	200,184	85,417
Subsidiary Issuer | CIFSA Notes
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	728	0
Investments	0
Accounts receivable, net	0
Inventories	0
Intercompany receivable	0
Tax assets	0
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	0
Total current assets	728
Property, plant, and equipment, net	0
Goodwill	0
Other intangible assets, net	0
Long-term tax assets	0
Investment in subsidiaries	7,040
Intercompany loans receivable	7,401
Other assets	0
Total assets	15,169
Short-term borrowings	1,002
Accounts payable	0
Intercompany payable	0
Accrued compensation	0
Accrued income taxes	0
Deferred tax liabilities	0
Other accrued expenses	610
Total current liabilities	1,612
Long-term debt	4,580
Long-term accrued compensation and retirement benefits	0
Long-term accrued income taxes	0
Long-term intercompany loans payable	8,385
Long-term deferred tax liabilities	0
Other long-term liabilities	0
Total liabilities	14,577
Shareholders’ equity	592
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	15,169
Subsidiary Guarantors | Medtronic Notes
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	170	0	0	0
Investments	0	0
Accounts receivable, net	0	0
Inventories	0	0
Intercompany receivable	0	0
Tax assets	0	0
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	0	0
Total current assets	170	0
Property, plant, and equipment, net	0	0
Goodwill	0	0
Other intangible assets, net	0	0
Long-term tax assets	0	$ 0
Investment in subsidiaries	64,335
Intercompany loans receivable	10,000	$ 0
Other assets	0	0
Total assets	74,505	0
Short-term borrowings	0	0
Accounts payable	0	0
Intercompany payable	0	0
Accrued compensation	0	0
Accrued income taxes	0	0
Deferred tax liabilities	0	0
Other accrued expenses	0	0
Total current liabilities	0	0
Long-term debt	0	0
Long-term accrued compensation and retirement benefits	0	0
Long-term accrued income taxes	0	0
Long-term intercompany loans payable	10,000	0
Long-term deferred tax liabilities	0	0
Other long-term liabilities	0	0
Total liabilities	10,000	0
Shareholders’ equity	64,505	0
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	74,505	0
Subsidiary Guarantors | CIFSA Notes
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	170	0
Investments	0
Accounts receivable, net	0
Inventories	0
Intercompany receivable	269
Tax assets	0
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	6
Total current assets	445
Property, plant, and equipment, net	1
Goodwill	0
Other intangible assets, net	0
Long-term tax assets	0
Investment in subsidiaries	64,335
Intercompany loans receivable	11,303
Other assets	0
Total assets	76,084
Short-term borrowings	0
Accounts payable	2
Intercompany payable	280
Accrued compensation	0
Accrued income taxes	0
Deferred tax liabilities	0
Other accrued expenses	1
Total current liabilities	283
Long-term debt	0
Long-term accrued compensation and retirement benefits	0
Long-term accrued income taxes	0
Long-term intercompany loans payable	10,002
Long-term deferred tax liabilities	0
Other long-term liabilities	0
Total liabilities	10,285
Shareholders’ equity	65,799
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	76,084
Subsidiary Non-guarantors | Medtronic Notes
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	3,339	1,139	$ 723	$ 1,076
Investments	14,637	12,838
Accounts receivable, net	5,112	3,811
Inventories	3,298	1,571
Intercompany receivable	150,679	51,593
Tax assets	729	193
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	1,322	597
Total current assets	179,116	71,742
Property, plant, and equipment, net	3,753	1,461
Goodwill	38,923	9,028
Other intangible assets, net	28,062	2,235
Long-term tax assets	559	252
Investment in subsidiaries	0	0
Intercompany loans receivable	10,218	273
Other assets	1,059	589
Total assets	261,690	85,580
Short-term borrowings	1,324	351
Accounts payable	1,349	541
Intercompany payable	141,714	43,377
Accrued compensation	1,120	610
Accrued income taxes	523	20
Deferred tax liabilities	280	78
Other accrued expenses	1,894	2,408
Total current liabilities	148,204	47,385
Long-term debt	4,748	138
Long-term accrued compensation and retirement benefits	570	175
Long-term accrued income taxes	1,026	28
Long-term intercompany loans payable	9,516	20
Long-term deferred tax liabilities	5,128	773
Other long-term liabilities	1,612	118
Total liabilities	170,804	48,637
Shareholders’ equity	90,886	36,943
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	261,690	85,580
Subsidiary Non-guarantors | CIFSA Notes
Condensed Balance Sheet Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	3,682	$ 1,403
Investments	14,637
Accounts receivable, net	5,112
Inventories	3,463
Intercompany receivable	20,508
Tax assets	1,335
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	1,444
Total current assets	50,181
Property, plant, and equipment, net	4,728
Goodwill	40,530
Other intangible assets, net	28,101
Long-term tax assets	774
Investment in subsidiaries	0
Intercompany loans receivable	6,372
Other assets	1,737
Total assets	132,423
Short-term borrowings	1,432
Accounts payable	1,608
Intercompany payable	250
Accrued compensation	1,610
Accrued income taxes	894
Deferred tax liabilities	116
Other accrued expenses	1,883
Total current liabilities	7,793
Long-term debt	29,172
Long-term accrued compensation and retirement benefits	1,535
Long-term accrued income taxes	2,476
Long-term intercompany loans payable	9,689
Long-term deferred tax liabilities	4,700
Other long-term liabilities	1,819
Total liabilities	57,184
Shareholders’ equity	75,239
Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	$ 132,423