diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 6f6f8e03f0fb..f54326d4328a 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -543,6 +543,13 @@ fi
 : ${python=${PYTHON-python}}
 : ${smbd=${SMBD-/usr/sbin/smbd}}
 
+# Default objcc to clang if available, otherwise use CC
+if has clang; then
+  objcc=clang
+else
+  objcc="$cc"
+fi
+
 if test "$mingw32" = "yes" ; then
   EXESUF=".exe"
   QEMU_CFLAGS="-DWIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN -DWINVER=0x501 $QEMU_CFLAGS"
@@ -586,6 +593,8 @@ for opt do
   ;;
   --host-cc=*) host_cc="$optarg"
   ;;
+  --objcc=*) objcc="$optarg"
+  ;;
   --make=*) make="$optarg"
   ;;
   --install=*) install="$optarg"
@@ -1028,6 +1037,7 @@ echo "  --cross-prefix=PREFIX    use PREFIX for compile tools [$cross_prefix]"
 echo "  --cc=CC                  use C compiler CC [$cc]"
 echo "  --host-cc=CC             use C compiler CC [$host_cc] for code run at"
 echo "                           build time"
+echo "  --objcc=OBJCC            use Objective-C compiler OBJCC [$objcc]"
 echo "  --extra-cflags=CFLAGS    append extra C compiler flags QEMU_CFLAGS"
 echo "  --extra-ldflags=LDFLAGS  append extra linker flags LDFLAGS"
 echo "  --make=MAKE              use specified make [$make]"
@@ -3058,6 +3068,7 @@ fi
 echo "Source path       $source_path"
 echo "C compiler        $cc"
 echo "Host C compiler   $host_cc"
+echo "Objective-C compiler $objcc"
 echo "CFLAGS            $CFLAGS"
 echo "QEMU_CFLAGS       $QEMU_CFLAGS"
 echo "LDFLAGS           $LDFLAGS"
@@ -3521,6 +3532,7 @@ echo "PYTHON=$python" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "CC=$cc" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "CC_I386=$cc_i386" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "HOST_CC=$host_cc" >> $config_host_mak
+echo "OBJCC=$objcc" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "AR=$ar" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "OBJCOPY=$objcopy" >> $config_host_mak
 echo "LD=$ld" >> $config_host_mak
diff --git a/rules.mak b/rules.mak
index a28494679a6d..1b173aa98126 100644
--- a/rules.mak
+++ b/rules.mak
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ endif
 	$(call quiet-command,$(CC) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<,"  AS    $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
 
 %.o: %.m
-	$(call quiet-command,$(CC) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<,"  OBJC  $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
+	$(call quiet-command,$(OBJCC) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<,"  OBJC  $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
 
 LINK = $(call quiet-command,$(CC) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ $(sort $(1)) $(LIBS),"  LINK  $(TARGET_DIR)$@")