Samsung and Micromax, the popular sellers of smartphones in India, are planning to discontinue 2G phones to completely focus on handsets that run on faster 3G and 4G networks. The reason behind this decision is that the prices for the 4G connectivity have dropped sharply for such handsets in the past year. Another reason is the impact of Reliance Jio. According to a report, this news has been revealed that both the leading brands would preferably focus on faster 3G and 4G networks.

Both the smartphone manufacturing brands such as Samsung and Micromax have mentioned reasons behind this move that include  prices of phones supporting faster networks have dropped to a great extent and also the ‘Reliance Jio effect’. The report also adds that the people correlated to three leading retail chains have revealed that both companies have informed them as well as trade partners about discontinuing 2G smartphone models.

Micromax CEO also told the news site that the company’s focus has completely changed to 4G phones with increasing number of telcos launching the service. One of the popular telecom service providers, Vodafone has also finally announced 4G in India and the roll out begins from Kochi on 14 December.

“The focus has shifted to 4G phones with telecom operators launching such services,” said Micromax Informatics chief executive officer Vineet Taneja. “4G models already account for 30% of our portfolio with 14 models and will increase to 20 by March.”

Micromax currently has 14 smartphone models that support 4G connectivity. The company has launched a total of 25 smartphone models this year. Out of the 25 models, 16 smartphone models are 4G enabled. Samsung is the popular brand which is currently leading India’s 4G market. However, it should be noted that 4G and 3G phones developed with support for 2G networks.

Not only the price reduction of the smartphones but also the services by Reliance Jio Infocomm has also enforced other telecommunication service providers to get ready to rival in the high-speed network space. Moreover, the prices of the 2G smartphones have been falling down day-by-day is the other reason behind this discontinuity.  A Samsung India spokesperson hadn’t responded to an email as of press time Wednesday.

There has been a continuous adoption of faster networks in India. A recent report also unveiled that India is expected to have 9 crore 4G subscribers and 18 crore 4G smartphones by the year 2018.