By considering the zeros of the partition function, we establish the following results for the Potts model on the square, triangular, and honeycomb lattices: (i) We show that there exists only one phase transition; (ii) we give an exact determination of the critical point; (iii) we prove the exponential decay of the correlation functions, in one direction at least, for all temperatures above the critical point. The results are established for q ⩾ 4, where q is the number of components.