diff --git a/drivers/mtd/spi-nor/Kconfig b/drivers/mtd/spi-nor/Kconfig
index f8acfa4310ef..64a4f0edabc7 100644
--- a/drivers/mtd/spi-nor/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/mtd/spi-nor/Kconfig
@@ -7,6 +7,20 @@ menuconfig MTD_SPI_NOR
 
 if MTD_SPI_NOR
 
+config MTD_SPI_NOR_USE_4K_SECTORS
+	bool "Use small 4096 B erase sectors"
+	default y
+	help
+	  Many flash memories support erasing small (4096 B) sectors. Depending
+	  on the usage this feature may provide performance gain in comparison
+	  to erasing whole blocks (32/64 KiB).
+	  Changing a small part of the flash's contents is usually faster with
+	  small sectors. On the other hand erasing should be faster when using
+	  64 KiB block instead of 16 × 4 KiB sectors.
+
+	  Please note that some tools/drivers/filesystems may not work with
+	  4096 B erase size (e.g. UBIFS requires 15 KiB as a minimum).
+
 config SPI_FSL_QUADSPI
 	tristate "Freescale Quad SPI controller"
 	depends on ARCH_MXC
diff --git a/drivers/mtd/spi-nor/spi-nor.c b/drivers/mtd/spi-nor/spi-nor.c
index 03e0ab8b2086..11459f6cee50 100644
--- a/drivers/mtd/spi-nor/spi-nor.c
+++ b/drivers/mtd/spi-nor/spi-nor.c
@@ -1013,6 +1013,7 @@ int spi_nor_scan(struct spi_nor *nor, const struct spi_device_id *id,
 	    nor->wait_till_ready == spi_nor_wait_till_ready)
 		nor->wait_till_ready = spi_nor_wait_till_fsr_ready;
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_MTD_SPI_NOR_USE_4K_SECTORS
 	/* prefer "small sector" erase if possible */
 	if (info->flags & SECT_4K) {
 		nor->erase_opcode = SPINOR_OP_BE_4K;
@@ -1020,7 +1021,9 @@ int spi_nor_scan(struct spi_nor *nor, const struct spi_device_id *id,
 	} else if (info->flags & SECT_4K_PMC) {
 		nor->erase_opcode = SPINOR_OP_BE_4K_PMC;
 		mtd->erasesize = 4096;
-	} else {
+	} else
+#endif
+	{
 		nor->erase_opcode = SPINOR_OP_SE;
 		mtd->erasesize = info->sector_size;
 	}