yes your right easy to track, found my phone was at the Drs surgery got it back good as gold.
So by tracking it he might get it back, or can delete everything, and the phone is useless, also his phone company can block the phone, at least they did that for me in NZ when I had a phone stolen, it was fingerprint and pin locked, then blocked by phone company , rendered useless to any thief.
But as he might have dropped his phone or left it in a Taxi he might get it back by calling it as you say.