diff --git a/ports/nrf/modules/machine/uart.c b/ports/nrf/modules/machine/uart.c
index 3a2d7a14af..9e07d86c6d 100644
--- a/ports/nrf/modules/machine/uart.c
+++ b/ports/nrf/modules/machine/uart.c
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@
 typedef struct _machine_hard_uart_obj_t {
     mp_obj_base_t       base;
     const nrfx_uart_t * p_uart;      // Driver instance
-    byte                char_width;  // 0 for 7,8 bit chars, 1 for 9 bit chars
 } machine_hard_uart_obj_t;
 
 static const nrfx_uart_t instance0 = NRFX_UART_INSTANCE(0);
@@ -302,44 +301,18 @@ STATIC mp_uint_t machine_hard_uart_read(mp_obj_t self_in, void *buf_in, mp_uint_
     const machine_hard_uart_obj_t *self = self_in;
     byte *buf = buf_in;
 
-    // check that size is a multiple of character width
-    if (size & self->char_width) {
-        *errcode = MP_EIO;
-        return MP_STREAM_ERROR;
-    }
-
-    // convert byte size to char size
-    size >>= self->char_width;
-
-    // make sure we want at least 1 char
-    if (size == 0) {
-        return 0;
-    }
-
     // read the data
-    byte * orig_buf = buf;
-    for (;;) {
-        int data = uart_rx_char(self);
-
-        *buf++ = data;
-
-        if (--size == 0) {
-            // return number of bytes read
-            return buf - orig_buf;
-        }
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < size; i++) {
+        buf[i] = uart_rx_char(self);
     }
+
+    return size;
 }
 
 STATIC mp_uint_t machine_hard_uart_write(mp_obj_t self_in, const void *buf_in, mp_uint_t size, int *errcode) {
     machine_hard_uart_obj_t *self = self_in;
     const byte *buf = buf_in;
 
-    // check that size is a multiple of character width
-    if (size & self->char_width) {
-        *errcode = MP_EIO;
-        return MP_STREAM_ERROR;
-    }
-
     nrfx_err_t err = NRFX_SUCCESS;
     for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
         err = uart_tx_char(self, (int)((uint8_t *)buf)[i]);