diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2003.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2003.xml
index 13981c0853d6..4ee9ebd6a2b4 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2003.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2003.xml
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@
      Support is planned until the end of October 2020, handing over to 20.09.
     </para>
    </listitem>
+   <listitem>
+    <para>
+     Linux kernel is updated to branch 5.4 by default (from 4.19).
+     Users of Intel GPUs may prefer to explicitly set branch to 4.19 to avoid some regressions.
+     <programlisting>boot.kernelPackages = pkgs.linuxPackages_4_19;</programlisting>
+    </para>
+   </listitem>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      Postgresql for NixOS service now defaults to v11.
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 6512e61cb395..9773e7f795f8 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -16619,7 +16619,7 @@ in
   });
 
   # The current default kernel / kernel modules.
-  linuxPackages = linuxPackages_4_19;
+  linuxPackages = linuxPackages_5_4;
   linux = linuxPackages.kernel;
 
   # Update this when adding the newest kernel major version!