diff --git a/board/qemu/arm-vexpress/readme.txt b/board/qemu/arm-vexpress/readme.txt
index 50dd563bc..01304c588 100644
--- a/board/qemu/arm-vexpress/readme.txt
+++ b/board/qemu/arm-vexpress/readme.txt
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@ Run the emulation with:
 The login prompt will appear in the terminal that started Qemu. The
 graphical window is the framebuffer.
 
-Tested with QEMU 1.7.0
+Tested with QEMU 2.1.0
diff --git a/configs/qemu_arm_vexpress_defconfig b/configs/qemu_arm_vexpress_defconfig
index e35a44a54..d6d7c2020 100644
--- a/configs/qemu_arm_vexpress_defconfig
+++ b/configs/qemu_arm_vexpress_defconfig
@@ -13,14 +13,14 @@ BR2_TARGET_GENERIC_GETTY_PORT="ttyAMA0"
 BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_EXT2=y
 # BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_TAR is not set
 
-# Lock to 3.13 headers to avoid breaking with newer kernels
+# Lock to 3.16 headers to avoid breaking with newer kernels
 BR2_KERNEL_HEADERS_VERSION=y
-BR2_DEFAULT_KERNEL_VERSION="3.13.5"
-BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_LINUX_HEADERS_CUSTOM_3_13=y
+BR2_DEFAULT_KERNEL_VERSION="3.16.3"
+BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_LINUX_HEADERS_CUSTOM_3_16=y
 
 # Kernel
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL=y
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION=y
-BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION_VALUE="3.13.5"
+BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_CUSTOM_VERSION_VALUE="3.16.3"
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_DEFCONFIG="vexpress"
 BR2_LINUX_KERNEL_ZIMAGE=y