If the hard drive where your wallet is stored dies (like you can't recover anything from it) and you have no backup then funds are lost forever. If the development of a hardware wallet is dropped (the software part), you will still be able to recover your coins. I'd go with Trezor or Ledger nano S as a hardware wallet. Both wallets offers a seed while setting them up, If you save those, even If the hardware stops working for one reason or another, you could recover your coins.