diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1803.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1803.xml
index fc62092b6f1..275f74654be 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1803.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1803.xml
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@ has the following highlights: </para>
       </itemizedlist>
     </para>
   </listitem>
+
+  <listitem>
+    <para>PHP now defaults to PHP 7.2</para>
+  </listitem>
 </itemizedlist>
 
 </section>
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index f4c5fb4d4ce..73abc6006e2 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -6902,8 +6902,8 @@ with pkgs;
 
   pachyderm = callPackage ../applications/networking/cluster/pachyderm { };
 
-  php = php71;
-  phpPackages = php71Packages;
+  php = php72;
+  phpPackages = php72Packages;
 
   php56Packages = recurseIntoAttrs (callPackage ./php-packages.nix {
     php = php56;
@@ -6928,13 +6928,17 @@ with pkgs;
     php71
     php72;
 
-  php-embed = php71-embed;
+  php-embed = php72-embed;
 
   php71-embed = php71.override {
     config.php.embed = true;
     config.php.apxs2 = false;
   };
 
+  php72-embed = php72.override {
+    config.php.embed = true;
+    config.php.apxs2 = false;
+  };
 
   picoc = callPackage ../development/interpreters/picoc {};