diff --git a/docs/devel/kconfig.rst b/docs/devel/kconfig.rst
index a1cdbec751..aa5042f156 100644
--- a/docs/devel/kconfig.rst
+++ b/docs/devel/kconfig.rst
@@ -192,11 +192,15 @@ declares its dependencies in different ways:
   no directive and are not used in the Makefile either; they only appear
   as conditions for ``default y`` directives.
 
-  QEMU currently has two device groups, ``PCI_DEVICES`` and
-  ``TEST_DEVICES``.  PCI devices usually have a ``default y if
+  QEMU currently has three device groups, ``PCI_DEVICES``, ``I2C_DEVICES``,
+  and ``TEST_DEVICES``.  PCI devices usually have a ``default y if
   PCI_DEVICES`` directive rather than just ``default y``.  This lets
   some boards (notably s390) easily support a subset of PCI devices,
   for example only VFIO (passthrough) and virtio-pci devices.
+  ``I2C_DEVICES`` is similar to ``PCI_DEVICES``. It contains i2c devices
+  that users might reasonably want to plug in to an i2c bus on any
+  board (and not ones which are very board-specific or that need
+  to be wired up in a way that can't be done on the command line).
   ``TEST_DEVICES`` instead is used for devices that are rarely used on
   production virtual machines, but provide useful hooks to test QEMU
   or KVM.
diff --git a/hw/i2c/Kconfig b/hw/i2c/Kconfig
index 8217cb5041..9bb8870517 100644
--- a/hw/i2c/Kconfig
+++ b/hw/i2c/Kconfig
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 config I2C
     bool
 
+config I2C_DEVICES
+    # Device group for i2c devices which can reasonably be user-plugged
+    # to any board's i2c bus
+    bool
+
 config SMBUS
     bool
     select I2C
diff --git a/hw/rtc/Kconfig b/hw/rtc/Kconfig
index f06e133b8a..730c272bc5 100644
--- a/hw/rtc/Kconfig
+++ b/hw/rtc/Kconfig
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 config DS1338
     bool
     depends on I2C
+    default y if I2C_DEVICES
 
 config M41T80
     bool
     depends on I2C
+    default y if I2C_DEVICES
 
 config M48T59
     bool
diff --git a/hw/sensor/Kconfig b/hw/sensor/Kconfig
index b317f91b7b..215944decc 100644
--- a/hw/sensor/Kconfig
+++ b/hw/sensor/Kconfig
@@ -1,18 +1,22 @@
 config TMP105
     bool
     depends on I2C
+    default y if I2C_DEVICES
 
 config TMP421
     bool
     depends on I2C
+    default y if I2C_DEVICES
 
 config DPS310
     bool
     depends on I2C
+    default y if I2C_DEVICES
 
 config EMC141X
     bool
     depends on I2C
+    default y if I2C_DEVICES
 
 config ADM1272
     bool
@@ -25,3 +29,4 @@ config MAX34451
 config LSM303DLHC_MAG
     bool
     depends on I2C
+    default y if I2C_DEVICES