diff --git a/cogl/cogl-internal.h b/cogl/cogl-internal.h
index 585220a1d..f38107ead 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl-internal.h
+++ b/cogl/cogl-internal.h
@@ -101,6 +101,8 @@ CoglTextureUnit *
 _cogl_get_texture_unit (int index_);
 void
 _cogl_destroy_texture_units (void);
+guint
+_cogl_get_max_texture_image_units (void);
 
 void
 _cogl_flush_face_winding (void);
diff --git a/cogl/cogl-material.c b/cogl/cogl-material.c
index 00c376fb5..65b7258d0 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl-material.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl-material.c
@@ -48,12 +48,6 @@
 #include "../gles/cogl-gles2-wrapper.h"
 #endif
 
-#ifdef HAVE_COGL_GLES
-#define COGL_MATERIAL_MAX_TEXTURE_UNITS GL_MAX_TEXTURE_UNITS
-#else
-#define COGL_MATERIAL_MAX_TEXTURE_UNITS GL_MAX_COMBINED_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS
-#endif
-
 #ifdef HAVE_COGL_GL
 #define glActiveTexture ctx->drv.pf_glActiveTexture
 #define glClientActiveTexture ctx->drv.pf_glClientActiveTexture
@@ -828,7 +822,7 @@ cogl_material_set_layer (CoglHandle material_handle,
   _cogl_material_pre_change_notify (material, FALSE, NULL);
 
   material->n_layers = g_list_length (material->layers);
-  if (material->n_layers >= COGL_MATERIAL_MAX_TEXTURE_UNITS)
+  if (material->n_layers >= _cogl_get_max_texture_image_units ())
     {
       if (!(material->flags & COGL_MATERIAL_FLAG_SHOWN_SAMPLER_WARNING))
 	{
@@ -1537,7 +1531,7 @@ _cogl_material_flush_layers_gl_state (CoglMaterial *material,
 
       layer->flags &= ~COGL_MATERIAL_LAYER_FLAG_DIRTY;
 
-      if ((i+1) >= COGL_MATERIAL_MAX_TEXTURE_UNITS)
+      if ((i+1) >= _cogl_get_max_texture_image_units ())
 	break;
     }
 
diff --git a/cogl/cogl.c b/cogl/cogl.c
index ca76641f5..387eac417 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl.c
@@ -788,6 +788,36 @@ _cogl_destroy_texture_units (void)
   g_list_free (ctx->texture_units);
 }
 
+/*
+ * This is more complicated than that, another pass needs to be done when
+ * cogl have a neat way of saying if we are using the fixed function pipeline
+ * or not (for the GL case):
+ * MAX_TEXTURE_UNITS: fixed function pipeline, a texture unit has both a
+ *                    sampler and a set of texture coordinates
+ * MAX_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS: number of samplers one can use from a fragment
+ *                          program/shader (ARBfp1.0 asm/GLSL)
+ * MAX_VERTEX_TEXTURE_UNITS: number of samplers one can use from a vertex
+ *                           program/shader (can be 0)
+ * MAX_COMBINED_TEXTURE_IMAGE_UNITS: Maximum samplers one can use, counting both
+ *                                   the vertex and fragment shaders
+ *
+ * If both the vertex shader and the fragment processing stage access the same
+ * texture image unit, then that counts as using two texture image units
+ * against the latter limit: http://www.opengl.org/sdk/docs/man/xhtml/glGet.xml
+ *
+ * Note that, for now, we use GL_MAX_TEXTURE_UNITS as we are exposing the
+ * fixed function pipeline.
+ */
+guint
+_cogl_get_max_texture_image_units (void)
+{
+  GLint nb_texture_image_units;
+
+  GE( glGetIntegerv(GL_MAX_TEXTURE_UNITS, &nb_texture_image_units) );
+
+  return nb_texture_image_units;
+}
+
 void
 cogl_push_matrix (void)
 {