2G is being shutdown (or already has) in many countries and those old phones and core services will need to be replaced.

2G also needs a tiny amount of spectrum in contrast to the newer standards, as it was designed almost exclusively for voice calls, where a few Kbps is sufficient for good quality speech. (And 64kbps, which is only 8KB/s, is considered "toll quality".)

4G is becoming the "baseline" and replacing 2G in many of those services, especially the "low energy" IoT implementations of LTE.

Australia (2018), New Zealand (2018), US (2017), Iceland (2025), Switzerland have shut down 2G networks.

In Norway, Telia shut down 2G in 2025, but Telenor is holding out until the end of 2027.

In Sweden, Telia is holding until 2027, and all other telcos have already switched it off.

France is shutting down 2G this year.

So the 2G shutdown is a real thing.