The average bit-error-rate (BER) performance is studied for a coherent free-space optical communication system employing differentially encoded quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) with the Mth-power phase estimation method. A closed-form expression, considering the combined effects of the Málaga (M) turbulence fading, pointing errors, and phase estimation errors, is derived in terms of Meijer’s G function. Numerical and Monte Carlo simulation results are presented to verify the derived expression.