diff --git a/src/cairo-egl-context.c b/src/cairo-egl-context.c
index bb0772ab4..bf704c630 100644
--- a/src/cairo-egl-context.c
+++ b/src/cairo-egl-context.c
@@ -244,6 +244,12 @@ cairo_egl_device_create (EGLDisplay dpy, EGLContext egl)
 	return _cairo_gl_context_create_in_error (status);
     }
 
+    /* Tune the default VBO size to reduce overhead on embedded devices.
+     * This smaller size means that flushing needs to be done more often,
+     * but it is less demanding of scarce memory on embedded devices.
+     */
+    ctx->base.vbo_size = 16*1024;
+
     eglMakeCurrent (dpy, EGL_NO_SURFACE, EGL_NO_SURFACE, EGL_NO_CONTEXT);
 
     return &ctx->base.base;
diff --git a/src/cairo-gl-private.h b/src/cairo-gl-private.h
index c1104b6ee..cb915c8cf 100644
--- a/src/cairo-gl-private.h
+++ b/src/cairo-gl-private.h
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
  * but larger means hogging more memory and can cause trouble for drivers
  * (especially on embedded devices). Use the CAIRO_GL_VBO_SIZE environment
  * variable to set this to a different size. */
-#define CAIRO_GL_VBO_SIZE_DEFAULT (16*1024)
+#define CAIRO_GL_VBO_SIZE_DEFAULT (1024*1024)
 
 typedef struct _cairo_gl_surface cairo_gl_surface_t;