Joe, but what about if you have to download 40 items, 40 photos that you took with your phone to the laptop/ desktop?
For all intent and purposes they are already on my iPhone/iPad/Desktop/Laptop and do not need to be downloaded except to export them to another app or print them. The images on each of the various devices are
optimized images for viewing in Photos, but when they are edited, it is the full image on iCloud that is actually edited. The full image is downloaded transparently when the image is exported from Photos. NOTE: this is only true for images in Photos. There can be a delay after taking a picture on the iPhone before it moves to the iCloud and from there to the desktop, but I find that it is only noticeable in rare circumstances — assuming a WiFi internet connection on both ends.
