diff --git a/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/DefaultChannelConfig.java b/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/DefaultChannelConfig.java
index ac90d70a8d..7404a8f8d9 100644
--- a/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/DefaultChannelConfig.java
+++ b/transport/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/DefaultChannelConfig.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package io.netty.channel;
 
 import io.netty.buffer.ByteBufAllocator;
 import io.netty.buffer.UnpooledByteBufAllocator;
+import io.netty.channel.nio.AbstractNioByteChannel;
 import io.netty.channel.socket.SocketChannelConfig;
 
 import java.util.IdentityHashMap;
@@ -55,8 +56,11 @@ public class DefaultChannelConfig implements ChannelConfig {
         }
         this.channel = channel;
 
-        if (channel instanceof ServerChannel) {
-            // Accept as many incoming connections as possible.
+        if (channel instanceof ServerChannel || channel instanceof AbstractNioByteChannel) {
+            // Server channels: Accept as many incoming connections as possible.
+            // NIO byte channels: Implemented to reduce unnecessary system calls even if it's > 1.
+            //                    See https://github.com/netty/netty/issues/2079
+            // TODO: Add some property to ChannelMetadata so we can remove the ugly instanceof
             maxMessagesPerRead = 16;
         } else {
             maxMessagesPerRead = 1;