diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1909.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1909.xml
index cf3309a8f4e..951040a0648 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1909.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1909.xml
@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@
      End of support is planned for end of April 2020, handing over to 20.03.
     </para>
    </listitem>
+   <listitem>
+    <para>
+     PHP now defaults to PHP 7.3, updated from 7.2.
+    </para>
+   </listitem>
   </itemizedlist>
  </section>
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 84d917988b8..98a28d0318a 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -8391,8 +8391,8 @@ in
 
   pachyderm = callPackage ../applications/networking/cluster/pachyderm { };
 
-  php = php72;
-  phpPackages = php72Packages;
+  php = php73;
+  phpPackages = php73Packages;
 
   php71Packages = recurseIntoAttrs (callPackage ./php-packages.nix {
     php = php71;
@@ -8427,7 +8427,7 @@ in
     php72
     php73;
 
-  php-embed = php72-embed;
+  php-embed = php73-embed;
 
   php71-embed = php71.override {
     config.php.embed = true;
@@ -8444,7 +8444,7 @@ in
     config.php.apxs2 = false;
   };
 
-  php-unit = php72-unit;
+  php-unit = php73-unit;
 
   php71-unit = php71.override {
     config.php.embed = true;