An apparatus and method for improving a symbol error rate of an M-ary phase shift keying (M-PSK) system having a quadrature error are provided. The apparatus includes: a conversion parameter detector that detects a conversion parameter and converts a symbol decision region using the quadrature error and at least one pair of first received symbols; and a converter & determiner converting a pair of second received symbols using the detected conversion parameter, and determining a transmission symbol according to a symbol of the converted pair of second received symbols. An increase in a symbol error rate due to the quadrature error can be prevented and the quadrature error can be easily estimated.