diff --git a/packages/core/unrefElement/index.test.ts b/packages/core/unrefElement/index.test.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 3eab915c076..00000000000
--- a/packages/core/unrefElement/index.test.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,72 +0,0 @@
-import { defineComponent, h, nextTick, onMounted, ref } from 'vue-demi'
-import { mount } from '../../.test'
-import { templateRef } from '../templateRef'
-import { unrefElement } from '.'
-
-describe('unrefElement', () => {
-  it('should be defined', () => {
-    expect(unrefElement).toBeDefined()
-  })
-
-  it('works with regular html elements', () => {
-    const refKey = 'target'
-
-    mount(defineComponent({
-      setup() {
-        const targetEl = templateRef(refKey)
-
-        expect(unrefElement(targetEl)).toBeNull()
-
-        onMounted(() => {
-          expect(unrefElement(targetEl)).toBeInstanceOf(HTMLElement)
-        })
-
-        return { targetEl }
-      },
-      render() {
-        return h('div', { ref: refKey })
-      },
-    }))
-  })
-
-  it('works with Vue components which expose a proxy $el', () => {
-    const helperComponent = defineComponent({
-      props: {
-        text: String,
-      },
-      setup(props, { expose }) {
-        const buttonRef = ref<HTMLButtonElement | null>(null)
-
-        expose({ $el: buttonRef })
-
-        return () => [
-          props.text && h('button', { ref: buttonRef }),
-          h('p', props.text),
-        ]
-      },
-
-    })
-
-    mount(defineComponent({
-      setup() {
-        const targetEl = ref<InstanceType<typeof helperComponent> | null>(null)
-        const myText = ref('')
-
-        expect(unrefElement(targetEl)).toBeNull()
-
-        onMounted(() => {
-          expect(targetEl.value?.$el).toBeNull()
-          expect(unrefElement(targetEl)).toEqual(targetEl.value?.$el)
-
-          myText.value = 'Hello'
-          nextTick(() => {
-            expect(targetEl.value?.$el).not.toBeNull()
-            expect(unrefElement(targetEl)).toEqual(targetEl.value?.$el)
-          })
-        })
-
-        return () => h(helperComponent, { ref: targetEl, text: myText.value })
-      },
-    }))
-  })
-})
diff --git a/packages/core/unrefElement/index.ts b/packages/core/unrefElement/index.ts
index 4f966fc0289..712be030647 100644
--- a/packages/core/unrefElement/index.ts
+++ b/packages/core/unrefElement/index.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,5 @@ export type UnRefElementReturn<T extends MaybeElement = MaybeElement> = T extend
  */
 export function unrefElement<T extends MaybeElement>(elRef: MaybeElementRef<T>): UnRefElementReturn<T> {
   const plain = unref(elRef)
-
-  return plain != null && '$el' in (plain as VueInstance) ? (plain as VueInstance).$el : plain
+  return (plain as VueInstance)?.$el ?? plain
 }