diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr.c b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
index 3f5b0d0159..6abb45d0ed 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr.c
@@ -2878,10 +2878,8 @@ static void spapr_machine_init(MachineState *machine)
     /* Set up VIO bus */
     spapr->vio_bus = spapr_vio_bus_init();
 
-    for (i = 0; i < serial_max_hds(); i++) {
-        if (serial_hd(i)) {
-            spapr_vty_create(spapr->vio_bus, serial_hd(i));
-        }
+    for (i = 0; serial_hd(i); i++) {
+        spapr_vty_create(spapr->vio_bus, serial_hd(i));
     }
 
     /* We always have at least the nvram device on VIO */
diff --git a/include/sysemu/sysemu.h b/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
index 18cf586cd0..29c32f9851 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/sysemu.h
@@ -71,10 +71,6 @@ void hmp_pcie_aer_inject_error(Monitor *mon, const QDict *qdict);
 
 /* Return the Chardev for serial port i, or NULL if none */
 Chardev *serial_hd(int i);
-/* return the number of serial ports defined by the user. serial_hd(i)
- * will always return NULL for any i which is greater than or equal to this.
- */
-int serial_max_hds(void);
 
 /* parallel ports */
 
diff --git a/softmmu/vl.c b/softmmu/vl.c
index 4c95537af3..43a0a45b68 100644
--- a/softmmu/vl.c
+++ b/softmmu/vl.c
@@ -2159,11 +2159,6 @@ Chardev *serial_hd(int i)
     return NULL;
 }
 
-int serial_max_hds(void)
-{
-    return num_serial_hds;
-}
-
 static int parallel_parse(const char *devname)
 {
     static int index = 0;