diff --git a/benchmarks/benchmarks/strings.py b/benchmarks/benchmarks/strings.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e2e46e90b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/benchmarks/benchmarks/strings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+long_string = "a" * 50000
+
+for char in long_string:
+    pass
diff --git a/benchmarks/test_benchmarks.py b/benchmarks/test_benchmarks.py
index c1b80582d..2626461aa 100644
--- a/benchmarks/test_benchmarks.py
+++ b/benchmarks/test_benchmarks.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ pythons = [
 benchmarks = [
     ['benchmarks/nbody.py'],
     ['benchmarks/mandelbrot.py'],
+    ['benchmarks/strings.py'],
 ]
 
 exe_ids = ['cpython', 'rustpython']
diff --git a/tests/snippets/strings.py b/tests/snippets/strings.py
index e7b0da07f..1659d3b35 100644
--- a/tests/snippets/strings.py
+++ b/tests/snippets/strings.py
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ assert "\u9487" == "钇"
 assert "\U0001F609" == "😉"
 
 # test str iter
-iterable_str = "123456789"
+iterable_str = "12345678😉"
 str_iter = iter(iterable_str)
 
 assert next(str_iter) == "1"
@@ -288,13 +288,13 @@ assert next(str_iter) == "5"
 assert next(str_iter) == "6"
 assert next(str_iter) == "7"
 assert next(str_iter) == "8"
-assert next(str_iter) == "9"
+assert next(str_iter) == "😉"
 assert next(str_iter, None) == None
 assert_raises(StopIteration, next, str_iter)
 
 str_iter_reversed = reversed(iterable_str)
 
-assert next(str_iter_reversed) == "9"
+assert next(str_iter_reversed) == "😉"
 assert next(str_iter_reversed) == "8"
 assert next(str_iter_reversed) == "7"
 assert next(str_iter_reversed) == "6"
diff --git a/vm/src/obj/objstr.rs b/vm/src/obj/objstr.rs
index 1f299867c..219ce280e 100644
--- a/vm/src/obj/objstr.rs
+++ b/vm/src/obj/objstr.rs
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ impl TryIntoRef<PyString> for &str {
 #[derive(Debug)]
 pub struct PyStringIterator {
     pub string: PyStringRef,
-    position: Cell<usize>,
+    byte_position: Cell<usize>,
 }
 
 impl PyValue for PyStringIterator {
@@ -111,15 +111,16 @@ impl PyValue for PyStringIterator {
 impl PyStringIterator {
     #[pymethod(name = "__next__")]
     fn next(&self, vm: &VirtualMachine) -> PyResult {
-        let pos = self.position.get();
+        let pos = self.byte_position.get();
 
-        if pos < self.string.value.chars().count() {
-            self.position.set(self.position.get() + 1);
+        if pos < self.string.value.len() {
+            // We can be sure that chars() has a value, because of the pos check above.
+            let char_ = self.string.value[pos..].chars().next().unwrap();
 
-            #[allow(clippy::range_plus_one)]
-            let value = self.string.value.do_slice(pos..pos + 1);
+            self.byte_position
+                .set(self.byte_position.get() + char_.len_utf8());
 
-            value.into_pyobject(vm)
+            char_.to_string().into_pyobject(vm)
         } else {
             Err(objiter::new_stop_iteration(vm))
         }
@@ -1198,7 +1199,7 @@ impl PyString {
     #[pymethod(name = "__iter__")]
     fn iter(zelf: PyRef<Self>, _vm: &VirtualMachine) -> PyStringIterator {
         PyStringIterator {
-            position: Cell::new(0),
+            byte_position: Cell::new(0),
             string: zelf,
         }
     }