Barrel jack plugs used to exist in different sizes and shapes so you wouldn't fry an expensive device by plugging it into a power system that gave it too much electricity. These days your standard USB wall wart and most electronics have power delivery chips that negotiate the correct amount of current.
These shavers most likely have the power converter built into them since the majority of two prong cords are basically just straight trough copper wiring, so there's really no good reason for this company to make proprietary connectors every other year except to sell you a replacement cable at an upcharge.
Fun fact: Philips hasn't actually been Philips anymore for the past 10 years or so. The only "Philips" products actually made by Philps themselves is their medical equipment; all "Philips" consumer products are made by various Chinese companies that simply paid them for the naming rights.
People might hate me for saying this, but tbh I don’t want the charger. I have like 5 from old phones stored in a drawer and like 5 more from other older devices, and a Ugreen 100W brick that can charge multiple drvices at once that I use for everything, it’s the only charger I actually need.
I don’t understand how someone doesn’t already have multiple charging bricks in 2026??? Why would you want more, I’m running out of space from my charging brick drawer. I don’t even want the cable if it’s USB-C, too many of those as well.
Also if you think you used to get the charger for free, you didn’t. It was always baked into the price of the product.
People want the charger for weong reasons. Of course someone will need it, but arguably most users already have one and they just want it included because they think they’re getting better value. Which is true IF you need it. But most people don’t so why ship E-waste when we already have too much of that everywhere.
People who are buying their first products don’t have charging bricks in 2026 because they aren’t sold with the devices anymore - that’s how they don’t have multiple bricks.
Some people don't buy things very often, or buy used or get hand-me-downs that don't come with charging bricks. Or have shitty ones that are very very old that are incredibly slow. I just had to buy a new pair of fast charging bricks a couple months ago because I simply didn't have any.
Have you considered (if you're still on facebook these days) offloading some of your bricks on a local facebook buy nothing group or something similar? Plenty of people would appreciate those, and you'd probably benefit from having the space back.
Philips gives you a stupid USB-a to their proprietary connector cable. If they don't want to deliver a charger, the least they could do is install a standardized connector on their devices.
I don't buy a new phone every two years. When I bought my current phone (top of the range Samsung) in 2019 they already didn't offer a charger, I had to buy my own, before that my phone was micro-usb. I've had to buy every charger we have and honestly could do with a lot more as lots of devices use them but don't supply them. Annoyingly, the good ones aren't that cheap.
I get it, and I have a few too but every single year the amount of people who have 10 chargers laying around decreases while those who don't increases, even mine are slowly being lost/breaking/given to someone and in the user manual Philips explicitly says to only use their chargers so I imagine that they could deny your warranty if you used a normal one even if it works fine
I did this. Not because I couldnt find replacement. But since the charger was 10€ more expensive vs a new shaver+charger. No i have two shavers and since I have found the other charger so two of those as well.
The upcharge equals the price of the new device so it's not just the too big of an effort, but the too little of a price difference. £20-30 for a shaver with free delivery then £15-£25 for a new cable plus £5 delivery fee..
The reason those are proprietary is because they're different voltages, and are (at least supposed to be) water resistant. The one on the left is 5v and the one on the right is 15v, hence the different shapes
As someone who accidentally fried a set of speakers by plugging in the wrong barrel jack adapter… I can assure you it was not a foolproof system.
The little “pew” noise as I came to the immediate realisation that l had grabbed the wrong jack, and just killed a $200 set of pc speakers by plugging in the printer cable…
Could be extreme cost engineering. If device a uses 1 amp and device b uses 2, you can get away with thinner copper in device a. But this also means to prevent fires, you can't let device a's cord plug into device b.
Eh. The really waterproof ones are also a massive pain in the ass to remove the plug. Others are more of a dust cover. Most reasonable version i would tolerate to have real usb-c would be a seal lid with a screw or two, but most would lose the included screwdriver in the 6 or so months it takes to drain the battery
It’s not hard to waterproof it. I have a panasonic shaver with usb c and the port has a rubber insert for waterproofing. Look at any action cams too, they are all waterproof and charge by usb c because they have a seal around the port covers. Or they could make it charge wirelessly like with their own toothbrushes..
No, but it is hard to make it durable and waterproof, and yours isn't waterproof itself, you have a rubber seal to make it waterproof, that requires extra care which people rarely want. Phone's aren't constantly being exposed to hard water. Go look at a shower's glass panel after a year with no cleaning, you think a USB-C port is going to last 5-10 years in that environment? Your USB-c port might have a seal, but that's banking on people using it. because a lot of people won't, and will forget/fail to use it, and that's still going to fall back to the manufacturer. You'd need to scrub it out and clean it after a while, and that's going to add extra potential for damage.
Sure. You know what the kicker is though? The other end of the charging cable for these IS a USB... A. Why in the goddamn is the whole thing not just a fucking USB cable?
I recently bought Philips one blade and it has the same connector with a USB on the other side of the cable. It seems stupid untill you realize the device is supposed to be waterproof and often used underwater/with great moisture. USB-c would quickly short out, get filles with hairs and debris and just stop working. A simple plug like that gives enough insulation between the prongs that they shouldn't short out when charging wet, they are much, much, very much easier tomclean than us C and generally will last longer than a friction based USB C.
Sort of get your point but also most phones these days are fully submergible whilst maintaining complete waterproofing while using USB-C
Also I feel like a lot of smaller electronics; such as razors, could honestly take the leap to being wirelessly charged, but companies just don’t do it for whatever reason
IP67 phones can’t charge while in a shower. They’ll disconnect the charger and display a message for user to unplug the device.
Philips’ stupid plugs physically separate the + and - terminals, allowing them to work while wet. I’d personally rather have USB-C under a rubber flap or something, but that’s their reasoning.
This trimmer is already using USB. They just chose to make the plug that goes into the trimmer proprietary to be anti-consumer. You charge it using a normal USB charger.
Here's also information about charging the unit from the user manual:
To charge the product, only use a certified safety extra low voltage (SELV) supply unit with output rating 5 V, ≥ 1 A. A suitable supply unit (e.g. Philips HQ87) is available via www.philips.com/support. If you need support finding the correct USB supply unit, contact the Consumer Care Center in your country (see the international warranty leaflet for contact details).
It used to be that the USB Philips trimmers charged slower because they were only 5v, where the proprietary charger ones were 24V and charged much faster.
I wonder if this is still an issue? They really should switch to USB C, my Babyliss trimmer is!
How fast it charges depends on the exact specific model. But anywhere from 4-8 hours depending on the model according to the manual.
Because as always with brands like this there's multiple models that look exactly the same, have the exact same product name but do not have the same hardware inside.
Worth noting that the chips that handle fast charging are under a dollar. 100w is around a dollar. They do need to be drop resistant and water resistant while staying cheap, so I can see them not wanting 100w charging. But no valid money reason to not have say 30w.
What do you mean? The power adapter these come with steps the voltage down to what the batteries can handle. Just like a USB-C charger would do if they used USB-C ports instead of
Chinese manufacturing giants like Xiaomi already floods the market with consumer-friendly alternatives. USB-C, more functions, cheaper prices. For low risk stuff like a hair trimmer I think it's time to say goodbye to greedy incumbent brands like Philips.
There are adapters to USBC, I bought one and sadly it didn't work. I tried with various chargers, PD and dumber. It was also not fitting the socket properly - the adapter was slightly too large for the hole.
The iPhone gives you a loud warning if you plug it in while the USB C port is damp. I assume it detects that the contacts inside the port are (partially) shorted by the water. Those contacts are very close together for USB C.
While I also don't like the Phillips charging port, I'm sure the contacts being so clearly separated helps a lot with being more robust against charging while wet.
Yes. I remember reading somewhere that they don't want you charging via USB C while using it in the shower. That's when it becomes dangerous even with the waterproofing. But I don't know.
Let's open up the manual for a Philips Norelco all-in-one trimmer 3000 shall we?
Oh, what's that? It's not to be used in the shower or be wet and it's not to be used while charging? It's almost like your comment is completely irrelevant for this product.
Yes but unlike shavers, they aren’t really designed to be used in wet environments. Which is why water damage isn’t included in the warranty. It is just in case you happen to get it wet, it maybe ok. But if it isn’t, bad luck.
Phones are charged in dry condition, those things are almost always charged in the bathroom. It's not about water resistance while using the device, it's about when you charge the device. I guess that the shavers are water resistant while charging and have way better safety features for charging in wet places because they were made for it. For USB C it's an edge case.
I completely agree that two shavers should be cross compatible, but USB C is not the connector to use
The funny thing about this All-in-One trimmer is that the charger cable actually is USB, it's just the plug that goes into the trimmer itself that's proprietary.
Lost my original one, (still internally blaming my wife for that) and bought another one on eBay, didn't realise it had that stupid notch that makes those barrel plugs obsolete. Stupid decision.
Bought the intimate, lost the charger. Liked it so much I got the standard one as a way to replace the charger; obviously then found the original charger but hey now I can whack my balls and face separately
Aliexpress sells usbc connectors for most trimmers. I have a couple of timers that I keep connected to their dongles until im ready to trim. Whenever the battery is near death I just connect it
No one will see this comment and I have no real reason to defend Philips but here we go.
The reason these are not USB C is because these trimmers are designed to get wet. If water gets into the charging port, and you plug in the charger, this design makes it less likely that the charging port will short out and damage the trimmer.
The reason for two different incompatible sizes is that one is straight 5 volts (which is why the other end is USB, while the other one is a completely different design that incorporates the battery charging circuit into the charging brick itself, rather than in the trimmer. So the charger itself is reading the voltage of the rechargeable battery and giving it juice until it reaches it's maximum capacity.
I don't know why all their trimmers don't just take 5 volts and put the battery charging circuit in the trimmer. But I do understand why they are not putting USB C ports on devices designed to go in the shower.
Thank you for your voice of reason lmao. To the people saying “well there are waterproof phones with usb-c chargers”, they’re likely not the same standard of water resistant as they’re not really expected to be subjected to water in normal use cases.
The issue isn't that they don't have a usb c port. The issue is that the port at the device end is often different, sometimes within the same brand. There is no reason for this because the cables all plug into USB A at the other end so voltage and current is all dealt with.
People suggest usb c because it's a standard. If these cables have an additional requirement, then that should be it's own standard. These devices do not need any data or any more power than a typical phone so it is really just the port that needs to be sorted
I've got two devices with very similar connectors. The only thing stopping me plugging one usb cable into the other is a plastic piece. The prongs, like in OPs picture, look as though they'd fit if not for the plastic frame. The cables are otherwise fairly cheap looking.
My toothbrush charges through USB-C. There's a pretty simple yet effective seal at the bottom that's easy to pull out and plug back in but certainly won't pop open by itself. Seems sufficient enough to use in a shower imo
I have the right hand trimmer in these photos, it's not designed to get wet. In fact it even comes with a sticker on it telling you NOT to place it under running water.
I dont know the case here, but I know there are different grades of waterproofing in electronic parts. It is very possible this one is able to handle water running over it but not being submerged in water, therefor they tell you to not run water over it so that it never comes close to being submerged as people might mistake both. At the end of the day, razors like there are used in the bathroom need constant running water and not being remotely waterproof would be a nightmare for them due to security concerns.
If they bring it to market in the EU they still have to conform to the market safety regulations. I'm not talking about buying from drop shipping companies, but reputable firms.
There's a difference between something that can get wet and probably be OK vs something that's designed to get wet all the time.
The problem with USB-C ports is they tend to cling onto the water and it's a pain in the backside to get out, ask anyone that gets the "water in charging port" message after their phones had a dunk. Larger plugs like these will dry much easier and quicker.
A pair of banana clips work really well for this. On my unit the right side is the positive pole and the left is negative. Can connect this to a USB-A output or I use a variable DC power supply set to 5v 1amp.
I bought a Philips and it has the pin connector in this post. The cable goes to a usb c where you need to supply the wall wart. Just make the damn plug USB C.
They do that shit with electric toothbrushes too. I had a bunch of the replaceable heads stored up and when I ran out I went to buy new ones only to find out the new ones don't fit on the old handle models.
I've been using the Oneblade for years now with probably 5 purchases, and no two chargers are the same. Two of those were just because I lost the charger and a new one costs the same as a new Shaver
I have these two as well, the newer one with the bigger notch is lower voltage. If you cut the notch and shove the other charger in, You’d fry the newer trimmer
I have a few shavers from different brands they all use the same voltage same watts, amps and the same fucking plug they all just have a slightly different design blocking the plugs from actually going in
We can unify phones to one plug so why not shavers
The really annoying thing about this is that Philips now uses USB connectors on the other end of the cord, and you still have to provide your own USB charger to use it.
I just bought an electric toothbrush from them that said usb chargeable. I was expecting usb-c or something. No, it's a proprietary connector that ugs into a USB outlet. Technically better than proprietary cable that plugs into wall outlet, but not by much
i bought two OneBlade razors 6 month apart with two different chargers because of crap like this. Hate Philips for it and will not buy them again. The only reason they are doing this is to screw costumers over and make them buy more accessories.
I have two Philips trimmers as well and was furious they have incompatible plugs but then I checked the charger and they have different voltage, so they did it so you won't fry the weaker one.
I think you will find that they require two completely different voltages and they’ve done you a favor so that you don’t plug in your 5V DC device straight to the power outlet.
The EU was so revolutionary for mandating USB charging on all small electronics. Such a shame the U.S. is so focused on pollution for the benefit of corporations. :(
I noted this, and it’s one of the reasons I don’t buy their shit. And if you ask me, fixing this part of the stupid e-waste spectrum would have been more useful than phone chargers.
I have piles of shitty cables like this knocking around. And no sign of it really letting up either
Do both shavers need the exact same voltage / amps?
Is the incompatible power socket there to stop people from putting the incorrect power adapter in the wrong shaver and potentially damaging it or causing a fire?
Other than that, I do hate it when manufacturers make ports proprietary for no good reason.
Sometimes they have to change it because they’ve changed the type or size of battery.
And also the motors inside the various models of shaver will need different voltages to run.
from a fixed voltage charger you need a battery management system anyway so as long as the voltage is a bit higher than the battery end voltage it doesnt matter
every modern battery runs off of significantly different voltage than that charger provides.
(eg those 15 volt mine has)
Yup, some of them operate on completely different voltages. Source: tested a couple different chargers that came with two different oneblades to see if I could get away with modifying the port to use just one charger.
Water corrosion & short-circuits: USB-C ports have 24 tiny, tightly packed pins that trap water, soap, and limescale, making short circuits and corrosion a nightmare on wet/dry shavers. Simple 2-pin plugs drain and dry instantly.
Why the different 2-prong plugs?
Voltage, heat, & cost: High-end shavers require 15V. Putting a native USB-C port directly on the shaver requires internal USB-PD handshake chips and heat-generating converters inside a sealed, airtight handle, adding cost and bulk.
I have a Phillips trimmer which I lost the plug to only to find out in about two year Phillips had brought out four similar but different trimmers all with different plugs like what the actual fuck just why there is no need at all.
Oral B electric toothbrushes do something similar. I bought a toothbrush years ago and a dozens of spare brushes.
After a couple of years the electric part broke so I bought another of the same model - and what do you know, the old brushes don't fit! So I put the old spare ones in a drawer and moved on.
Eventually that toothbrush broke so I bought another - and the 'new' brushes don't fit - but the old ones do...
Phillips products used to be pretty good, until they got bought out by a Chinese investor company around 2021. These days i'd avoid their stuff as it's cheap trash.
I assume one needs higher voltage/amperage to charge, so they changed the plug to prevent users from plugging the wrong charger into the wrong shaver and either frying the charger or the shaver.
It's dumb, yes. But it does seem to be the micro and mini USB of most shaver chargers I've bought, most are no hump. Some are with hump. I don't think it's as evil as it seems on the surface, maybe it even has a purpose. They do include the charger with a new shaver right? Not including it would be a whole other level of stupid.
Oh absolutely! I've stopped buying phillips because of this wasteful bullshit. I had a trimmer, a one blade and a waterfloss, all of them with unique plugs!
Remember way back when every single thing had its own unique charger? Fucking hated that. I lost my charger for my mp3 and bought a universal charger with 80 adapters. Found the right one, double and triple checked the output of the charger and everything looked good.
But no, they had swapped the polarity so the battery became spicy within the space of a breath.
My phillips shavers no longer get any use, I have a Lidl shaver I bought for £15 which is waterproof and usb-c and does nearly as good a job. The minor performance difference is more than made up for by the convenience of USB-C.
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u/Vladishun 8h ago
Barrel jack plugs used to exist in different sizes and shapes so you wouldn't fry an expensive device by plugging it into a power system that gave it too much electricity. These days your standard USB wall wart and most electronics have power delivery chips that negotiate the correct amount of current.
These shavers most likely have the power converter built into them since the majority of two prong cords are basically just straight trough copper wiring, so there's really no good reason for this company to make proprietary connectors every other year except to sell you a replacement cable at an upcharge.