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Commitments (Details 1) (USD $)
In Millions, unless otherwise specified
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Mar. 31, 2014
Dec. 31, 2014
Movement in standard warranty liability      
Beginning Balance $ 197us-gaap_StandardProductWarrantyAccrual $ 376us-gaap_StandardProductWarrantyAccrual  
Current period accruals 35us-gaap_StandardProductWarrantyAccrualWarrantiesIssued 54us-gaap_StandardProductWarrantyAccrualWarrantiesIssued  
Accrual adjustments to reflect actual experience 10us-gaap_StandardProductWarrantyAccrualPreexistingIncreaseDecrease (3)us-gaap_StandardProductWarrantyAccrualPreexistingIncreaseDecrease  
Charges incurred (51)us-gaap_StandardProductWarrantyAccrualPayments (85)us-gaap_StandardProductWarrantyAccrualPayments  
Ending Balance 192us-gaap_StandardProductWarrantyAccrual 342us-gaap_StandardProductWarrantyAccrual  
Extended lines of credit      
Commitments, guarantees:      
Unused amounts in lines of credit to third-party entities and commitments for future financing to clients 5,712us-gaap_UnusedCommitmentsToExtendCredit
/ us-gaap_OtherCommitmentsAxis
= ibm_ExtendedLinesOfCreditMember
  5,365us-gaap_UnusedCommitmentsToExtendCredit
/ us-gaap_OtherCommitmentsAxis
= ibm_ExtendedLinesOfCreditMember
Financing for client purchase agreements      
Commitments, guarantees:      
Unused amounts in lines of credit to third-party entities and commitments for future financing to clients 1,634us-gaap_UnusedCommitmentsToExtendCredit
/ us-gaap_OtherCommitmentsAxis
= ibm_FinancingForPurchaseAgreementsMember
  1,816us-gaap_UnusedCommitmentsToExtendCredit
/ us-gaap_OtherCommitmentsAxis
= ibm_FinancingForPurchaseAgreementsMember
Financial guarantees      
Commitments, guarantees:      
Guarantor obligations, maximum exposure $ 40us-gaap_GuaranteeObligationsMaximumExposure
/ us-gaap_OtherCommitmentsAxis
= us-gaap_FinancialGuaranteeMember
  $ 46us-gaap_GuaranteeObligationsMaximumExposure
/ us-gaap_OtherCommitmentsAxis
= us-gaap_FinancialGuaranteeMember