diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1703.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1703.xml
index 37173ccd744..51de93db92f 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1703.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1703.xml
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ has the following highlights: </para>
       <literal>ati_unfree</literal> keeps forcing 1.17
       and <literal>amdgpu-pro</literal> starts forcing 1.18.</para>
   </listitem>
+
+  <listitem>
+    <para>PHP now defaults to PHP 7.1</para>
+  </listitem>
 </itemizedlist>
 
 <para>The following new services were added since the last release:</para>
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 30694dc8740..33273481cd4 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -5792,7 +5792,7 @@ with pkgs;
 
   pachyderm = callPackage ../applications/networking/cluster/pachyderm { };
 
-  php = php70;
+  php = php71;
 
   phpPackages = php70Packages;