diff --git a/target/arm/helper.c b/target/arm/helper.c
index 0ac867c411..564c5d9332 100644
--- a/target/arm/helper.c
+++ b/target/arm/helper.c
@@ -6743,6 +6743,18 @@ void aarch64_set_svcr(CPUARMState *env, uint64_t new, uint64_t mask)
     if (change & R_SVCR_SM_MASK) {
         arm_reset_sve_state(env);
     }
+
+    /*
+     * ResetSMEState.
+     *
+     * SetPSTATE_ZA zeros on enable and disable.  We can zero this only
+     * on enable: while disabled, the storage is inaccessible and the
+     * value does not matter.  We're not saving the storage in vmstate
+     * when disabled either.
+     */
+    if (change & new & R_SVCR_ZA_MASK) {
+        memset(env->zarray, 0, sizeof(env->zarray));
+    }
 }
 
 static void svcr_write(CPUARMState *env, const ARMCPRegInfo *ri,
diff --git a/target/arm/sme_helper.c b/target/arm/sme_helper.c
index f73bf4d285..e146c17ba1 100644
--- a/target/arm/sme_helper.c
+++ b/target/arm/sme_helper.c
@@ -44,18 +44,6 @@ void helper_set_pstate_za(CPUARMState *env, uint32_t i)
         return;
     }
     aarch64_set_svcr(env, 0, R_SVCR_ZA_MASK);
-
-    /*
-     * ResetSMEState.
-     *
-     * SetPSTATE_ZA zeros on enable and disable.  We can zero this only
-     * on enable: while disabled, the storage is inaccessible and the
-     * value does not matter.  We're not saving the storage in vmstate
-     * when disabled either.
-     */
-    if (i) {
-        memset(env->zarray, 0, sizeof(env->zarray));
-    }
     arm_rebuild_hflags(env);
 }