The problem with that vision is that people break/lose phones a lot more often than laptops. We tend to carry your phone all the time with us, that leads to it being potentially exposed to way more dangers than our laptops. What happens to all your stuff when your phone is stolen in a pub? or when it fall into that subway gap?

If the answer to this is: it is all backed up automatically into the cloud and your new device will become a clone of your lost device, then you don't need the device in the first place, all you need is a terminal.

If the answer is: you're screwed, then maybe storing all your stuff on a device small enough to be easily stolen/broken was a bad idea.

> If the answer to this is: it is all backed up automatically into the cloud and your new device will become a clone of your lost device, then you don't need the device in the first place, all you need is a terminal.

Why do I only need a terminal if my data is backed up to the cloud, exactly? If I wish to watch a video that I downloaded to my phone, I can do that without having connection to the internet. If I wish to edit a photo with an application on my phone, all the processing of that file can be done locally on the device. Having a cloud backup of a device does not mean that there's no value in having a device with its own capabilities outside of the cloud.

> If the answer is: you're screwed, then maybe storing all your stuff on a device small enough to be easily stolen/broken was a bad idea.

For any valuable data you should have more than one backup solution, including data you store on your phone. Just because there's more risk of losing your phone than your desktop pc in your home doesn't mean that you take less measures to mitigate the chance of data loss on your desktop pc.

In my experience your average Joe carries most of their important stuff on their phone anyway (photos, contacts, payment options, email, instant message history) and very little of importance on their laptop.