diff --git a/src/main/resources/handlebars/php/api.mustache b/src/main/resources/handlebars/php/api.mustache
index 428a38677e..d3793564a7 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/handlebars/php/api.mustache
+++ b/src/main/resources/handlebars/php/api.mustache
@@ -182,8 +182,13 @@ use {{invokerPackage}}\ObjectSerializer;
         {{#responses}}
             {{#dataType}}
                 {{^isWildcard}}case {{code}}:{{/isWildcard}}{{#isWildcard}}default:{{/isWildcard}}
+                    $content = $e->getResponseBody();
+                    if ('{{dataType}}' !== 'string' && '{{dataType}}' !== '\SplFileObject') {
+                        $content = json_decode($content);
+                    }
+
                     $data = ObjectSerializer::deserialize(
-                        $e->getResponseBody(),
+                        $content,
                         '{{dataType}}',
                         $e->getResponseHeaders()
                     );