diff --git a/src/corelib/text/qcollator_icu.cpp b/src/corelib/text/qcollator_icu.cpp
index 0dca1ee9c99..d23edad6c28 100644
--- a/src/corelib/text/qcollator_icu.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/text/qcollator_icu.cpp
@@ -123,9 +123,7 @@ int QCollator::compare(QStringView s1, QStringView s2) const
                             reinterpret_cast<const UChar *>(s2.data()), s2.size());
     }
 
-    return QString::compare_helper(s1.data(), s1.size(),
-                                   s2.data(), s2.size(),
-                                   d->caseSensitivity);
+    return QtPrivate::compareStrings(s1, s2, d->caseSensitivity);
 }
 
 QCollatorSortKey QCollator::sortKey(const QString &string) const
diff --git a/src/corelib/text/qstring.h b/src/corelib/text/qstring.h
index 80139205af4..40e023be839 100644
--- a/src/corelib/text/qstring.h
+++ b/src/corelib/text/qstring.h
@@ -1129,7 +1129,6 @@ private:
     void replace_helper(size_t *indices, qsizetype nIndices, qsizetype blen, const QChar *after, qsizetype alen);
     friend class QStringView;
     friend class QByteArray;
-    friend class QCollator;
     friend struct QAbstractConcatenable;
 
     template <typename T> static