diff --git a/runtime/vm/object.cc b/runtime/vm/object.cc
index ae69e38..ab48a2a 100644
--- a/runtime/vm/object.cc
+++ b/runtime/vm/object.cc
@@ -16904,7 +16904,7 @@
       tags = RawObject::SizeTag::update(used_size, tags);
       tags = RawObject::ClassIdTag::update(class_id, tags);
       raw_ptr()->tags_ = tags;
-      const String& result = String::Handle(this->raw());
+      result = this->raw();
       ExternalStringData<uint16_t>* ext_data = new ExternalStringData<uint16_t>(
           reinterpret_cast<const uint16_t*>(array), peer, cback);
       result.SetLength(str_length);
diff --git a/tools/VERSION b/tools/VERSION
index fbd4405..5c17752 100644
--- a/tools/VERSION
+++ b/tools/VERSION
@@ -28,4 +28,4 @@
 MINOR 6
 PATCH 0
 PRERELEASE 3
-PRERELEASE_PATCH 0
+PRERELEASE_PATCH 1