diff --git a/include/sys/util.h b/include/sys/util.h
index b678dec08bc..c3655705759 100644
--- a/include/sys/util.h
+++ b/include/sys/util.h
@@ -26,9 +26,6 @@
 #define POINTER_TO_INT(x)  ((intptr_t) (x))
 #define INT_TO_POINTER(x)  ((void *) (intptr_t) (x))
 
-/* Helper to get the difference between two pointers as an int */
-#define PTR_DIFF(y, x) ((int)((intptr_t)(y) - (intptr_t)(x)))
-
 #if !(defined (__CHAR_BIT__) && defined (__SIZEOF_LONG__))
 #	error Missing required predefined macros for BITS_PER_LONG calculation
 #endif
diff --git a/tests/subsys/usb/desc_sections/src/desc_sections.c b/tests/subsys/usb/desc_sections/src/desc_sections.c
index 2d3b8377b13..5b13a451fac 100644
--- a/tests/subsys/usb/desc_sections/src/desc_sections.c
+++ b/tests/subsys/usb/desc_sections/src/desc_sections.c
@@ -198,41 +198,46 @@ static void check_endpoint_allocation(struct usb_desc_header *head)
 	}
 }
 
+/* Determine the number of bytes spanned between two linker-defined
+ * symbols that are normally interpreted as pointers.
+ */
+#define SYMBOL_SPAN(_ep, _sp) (int)(intptr_t)((uintptr_t)(_ep) - (uintptr_t)(_sp))
+
 static void test_desc_sections(void)
 {
 	struct usb_desc_header *head;
 
 	TC_PRINT("__usb_descriptor_start %p\n", __usb_descriptor_start);
 	TC_PRINT("__usb_descriptor_end %p\n",  __usb_descriptor_end);
-	TC_PRINT("USB Descriptor table size %d\n",
-		 PTR_DIFF(__usb_descriptor_end, __usb_descriptor_start));
+	TC_PRINT("USB Descriptor table span %d\n",
+		 SYMBOL_SPAN(__usb_descriptor_end, __usb_descriptor_start));
 
 	TC_PRINT("__usb_data_start %p\n", __usb_data_start);
 	TC_PRINT("__usb_data_end %p\n", __usb_data_end);
-	TC_PRINT("USB Configuration data size %d\n",
-		 PTR_DIFF(__usb_data_end, __usb_data_start));
+	TC_PRINT("USB Configuration data span %d\n",
+		 SYMBOL_SPAN(__usb_data_end, __usb_data_start));
 
 	TC_PRINT("sizeof usb_cfg_data %zu\n", sizeof(struct usb_cfg_data));
 
 	LOG_DBG("Starting logs");
 
 	LOG_HEXDUMP_DBG((u8_t *)__usb_descriptor_start,
-			PTR_DIFF(__usb_descriptor_end, __usb_descriptor_start),
+			SYMBOL_SPAN(__usb_descriptor_end, __usb_descriptor_start),
 			"USB Descriptor table section");
 
 	LOG_HEXDUMP_DBG((u8_t *)__usb_data_start,
-			PTR_DIFF(__usb_data_end, __usb_data_start),
+			SYMBOL_SPAN(__usb_data_end, __usb_data_start),
 			"USB Configuratio structures section");
 
 	head = (struct usb_desc_header *)__usb_descriptor_start;
 	zassert_not_null(head, NULL);
 
-	zassert_equal(PTR_DIFF(__usb_descriptor_end, __usb_descriptor_start),
+	zassert_equal(SYMBOL_SPAN(__usb_descriptor_end, __usb_descriptor_start),
 		      133, NULL);
 
 	/* Calculate number of structures */
 	zassert_equal(__usb_data_end - __usb_data_start, NUM_INSTANCES, NULL);
-	zassert_equal(PTR_DIFF(__usb_data_end, __usb_data_start),
+	zassert_equal(SYMBOL_SPAN(__usb_data_end, __usb_data_start),
 		      NUM_INSTANCES * sizeof(struct usb_cfg_data), NULL);
 
 	check_endpoint_allocation(head);