diff --git a/stdlib/src/collections/string/string.mojo b/stdlib/src/collections/string/string.mojo
index b31dbf6a49..d768b2bae2 100644
--- a/stdlib/src/collections/string/string.mojo
+++ b/stdlib/src/collections/string/string.mojo
@@ -1668,14 +1668,15 @@ struct String(
         """Return the number of non-overlapping occurrences of substring
         `substr` in the string.
 
-        If sub is empty, returns the number of empty strings between characters
-        which is the length of the string plus one.
-
         Args:
-          substr: The substring to count.
+            substr: The substring to count.
 
         Returns:
-          The number of occurrences of `substr`.
+            The number of occurrences of `substr`.
+
+        Notes:
+            If sub is empty, returns the number of empty strings between characters
+            which is the length of the string plus one.
         """
         return self.as_string_slice().count(substr)
 
@@ -1885,51 +1886,54 @@ struct String(
         Returns:
             The string where all occurrences of `old` are replaced with `new`.
         """
-        if not old:
-            return self._interleave(new)
-
-        var occurrences = self.count(old)
-        if occurrences == -1:
-            return self
-
-        var self_start = self.unsafe_ptr()
-        var self_ptr = self.unsafe_ptr()
+        var s_ptr = self.unsafe_ptr()
         var new_ptr = new.unsafe_ptr()
 
-        var self_len = self.byte_length()
+        var s_len = self.byte_length()
         var old_len = old.byte_length()
         var new_len = new.byte_length()
 
-        var res = Self._buffer_type()
-        res.reserve(self_len + (old_len - new_len) * occurrences + 1)
-
-        for _ in range(occurrences):
-            var curr_offset = int(self_ptr) - int(self_start)
-
-            var idx = self.find(old, curr_offset)
+        if old_len == 0:
+            var capacity = s_len + new_len * self.byte_length() + 1
+            var res_ptr = UnsafePointer[Byte].alloc(capacity)
+            var offset = 0
+            for s in self:
+                memcpy(res_ptr + offset, new_ptr, new_len)
+                offset += new_len
+                memcpy(res_ptr + offset, s.unsafe_ptr(), s.byte_length())
+                offset += s.byte_length()
+            res_ptr[capacity - 1] = 0
+            return String(ptr=res_ptr, length=capacity)
+
+        # FIXME(#3792): this should use self.as_bytes().count(old) which will be
+        # faster because returning unicode offsets has overhead and will return
+        # less bytes than necessary and cause a segfault
+        var occurrences = self.count(old)
+        if occurrences == 0:
+            return self
 
-            debug_assert(idx >= 0, "expected to find occurrence during find")
+        var capacity = s_len + (new_len - old_len) * occurrences + 1
+        var res_ptr = UnsafePointer[Byte].alloc(capacity)
+        var s_offset = 0
+        var res_offset = 0
 
+        while s_offset < s_len:
+            # FIXME(#3548): this should use raw bytes self.as_bytes().find(...)
+            var idx = self.find(old, s_offset)
+            if idx == -1:
+                memcpy(res_ptr + res_offset, s_ptr + s_offset, s_len - s_offset)
+                break
             # Copy preceding unchanged chars
-            for _ in range(curr_offset, idx):
-                res.append(self_ptr[])
-                self_ptr += 1
-
+            var length = idx - s_offset
+            memcpy(res_ptr + res_offset, s_ptr + s_offset, length)
+            res_offset += length
+            s_offset += length + old_len
             # Insert a copy of the new replacement string
-            for i in range(new_len):
-                res.append(new_ptr[i])
+            memcpy(res_ptr + res_offset, new_ptr, new_len)
+            res_offset += new_len
 
-            self_ptr += old_len
-
-        while True:
-            var val = self_ptr[]
-            if val == 0:
-                break
-            res.append(self_ptr[])
-            self_ptr += 1
-
-        res.append(0)
-        return String(res^)
+        res_ptr[capacity - 1] = 0
+        return String(ptr=res_ptr, length=capacity)
 
     fn strip(self, chars: StringSlice) -> StringSlice[__origin_of(self)]:
         """Return a copy of the string with leading and trailing characters
@@ -2019,18 +2023,6 @@ struct String(
         """
         hasher._update_with_bytes(self.unsafe_ptr(), self.byte_length())
 
-    fn _interleave(self, val: String) -> String:
-        var res = Self._buffer_type()
-        var val_ptr = val.unsafe_ptr()
-        var self_ptr = self.unsafe_ptr()
-        res.reserve(val.byte_length() * self.byte_length() + 1)
-        for i in range(self.byte_length()):
-            for j in range(val.byte_length()):
-                res.append(val_ptr[j])
-            res.append(self_ptr[i])
-        res.append(0)
-        return String(res^)
-
     fn lower(self) -> String:
         """Returns a copy of the string with all cased characters
         converted to lowercase.