diff --git a/src/corelib/global/qfloat16.cpp b/src/corelib/global/qfloat16.cpp
index fd608efe55..87ff796368 100644
--- a/src/corelib/global/qfloat16.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/global/qfloat16.cpp
@@ -64,6 +64,19 @@ QT_BEGIN_NAMESPACE
     \since 5.9
 */
 
+/*!
+    \macro QT_NO_FLOAT16_OPERATORS
+    \relates <QFloat16>
+    \since 5.12.4
+
+    Defining this macro disables the arithmetic operators for qfloat16.
+
+    This is only necessary on Visual Studio 2017 (and earlier) when including
+    \c {<QFloat16>} and \c{<bitset>} in the same translation unit, which would
+    otherwise cause a compilation error due to a toolchain bug (see
+    [QTBUG-72073]).
+*/
+
 /*!
     Returns true if the \c qfloat16 \a {f} is equivalent to infinity.
     \relates <QFloat16>
diff --git a/src/corelib/global/qfloat16.h b/src/corelib/global/qfloat16.h
index 3e50ad8467..b76d2b9616 100644
--- a/src/corelib/global/qfloat16.h
+++ b/src/corelib/global/qfloat16.h
@@ -83,7 +83,9 @@ private:
     Q_CORE_EXPORT static const quint32 shifttable[];
 
     friend bool qIsNull(qfloat16 f) Q_DECL_NOTHROW;
+#if !defined(QT_NO_FLOAT16_OPERATORS)
     friend qfloat16 operator-(qfloat16 a) Q_DECL_NOTHROW;
+#endif
 };
 
 Q_DECLARE_TYPEINFO(qfloat16, Q_PRIMITIVE_TYPE);
@@ -165,6 +167,7 @@ inline qfloat16::operator float() const Q_DECL_NOTHROW
 }
 #endif
 
+#if !defined(QT_NO_FLOAT16_OPERATORS)
 inline qfloat16 operator-(qfloat16 a) Q_DECL_NOTHROW
 {
     qfloat16 f;
@@ -246,6 +249,7 @@ QF16_MAKE_BOOL_OP_INT(!=)
 #undef QF16_MAKE_BOOL_OP_INT
 
 QT_WARNING_POP
+#endif // QT_NO_FLOAT16_OPERATORS
 
 /*!
   \internal