diff --git a/src/freedreno/ir3/ir3_ra.c b/src/freedreno/ir3/ir3_ra.c
index 97e4815318c..1a6377dd821 100644
--- a/src/freedreno/ir3/ir3_ra.c
+++ b/src/freedreno/ir3/ir3_ra.c
@@ -2293,9 +2293,22 @@ handle_block(struct ra_ctx *ctx, struct ir3_block *block)
       handle_live_in(ctx, reg);
    }
 
+   /* Handle phis in two groups: first those which already have a preferred reg
+    * set and then those without. The second group should be rare but by
+    * handling them last, they don't accidentally occupy a preferred reg of
+    * another phi, preventing excessive copying in some cases.
+    */
+   bool skipped_phi = false;
+
    foreach_instr (instr, &block->instr_list) {
       if (instr->opc == OPC_META_PHI) {
-         handle_phi(ctx, instr->dsts[0]);
+         struct ir3_register *dst = instr->dsts[0];
+
+         if (dst->merge_set && dst->merge_set->preferred_reg != (physreg_t)~0) {
+            handle_phi(ctx, dst);
+         } else {
+            skipped_phi = true;
+         }
       } else if (instr->opc == OPC_META_INPUT ||
                  instr->opc == OPC_META_TEX_PREFETCH) {
          handle_input(ctx, instr);
@@ -2304,6 +2317,20 @@ handle_block(struct ra_ctx *ctx, struct ir3_block *block)
       }
    }
 
+   if (skipped_phi) {
+      foreach_instr (instr, &block->instr_list) {
+         if (instr->opc == OPC_META_PHI) {
+            struct ir3_register *dst = instr->dsts[0];
+
+            if (!ctx->intervals[dst->name].interval.inserted) {
+               handle_phi(ctx, dst);
+            }
+         } else {
+            break;
+         }
+      }
+   }
+
    /* After this point, every live-in/phi/input has an interval assigned to
     * it. We delay actually assigning values until everything has been
     * allocated, so we can simply ignore any parallel copy entries created