diff --git a/src/ng/directive/ngRepeat.js b/src/ng/directive/ngRepeat.js
index 8c934b767210..893ad442e1b4 100644
--- a/src/ng/directive/ngRepeat.js
+++ b/src/ng/directive/ngRepeat.js
@@ -119,14 +119,7 @@ var ngRepeatDirective = ngDirective({
           key = (collection === array) ? index : array[index];
           value = collection[key];
 
-          // if value is object, it can be shifted to allow for position change
-          // if is not object, need to first check whether index is same to avoid shifting wrong val
-          last = isObject(value)
-              ? lastOrder.shift(value)
-              : (last = lastOrder.peek(value)) && (index === last.index)
-                  ? lastOrder.shift(value)
-                  : undefined;
-
+          last = lastOrder.shift(value);
 
           if (last) {
             // if we have already seen this object, then we need to reuse the
diff --git a/test/ng/directive/ngRepeatSpec.js b/test/ng/directive/ngRepeatSpec.js
index 5442ff39e1d2..a45cd972c8b9 100644
--- a/test/ng/directive/ngRepeatSpec.js
+++ b/test/ng/directive/ngRepeatSpec.js
@@ -431,5 +431,23 @@ describe('ngRepeat', function() {
       expect(newElements[1]).toEqual(lis[1]);
       expect(newElements[2]).toEqual(lis[0]);
     });
+
+
+    it('should reuse elements even when model is composed of primitives', function() {
+      // rebuilding repeater from scratch can be expensive, we should try to avoid it even for
+      // model that is composed of primitives.
+
+      scope.items = ['hello', 'cau', 'ahoj'];
+      scope.$digest();
+      lis = element.find('li');
+
+      scope.items = ['ahoj', 'hello', 'cau'];
+      scope.$digest();
+      var newLis = element.find('li');
+      expect(newLis.length).toEqual(3);
+      expect(newLis[0]).toEqual(lis[2]);
+      expect(newLis[1]).toEqual(lis[0]);
+      expect(newLis[2]).toEqual(lis[1]);
+    });
   });
 });