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 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.
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.
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.
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..
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…
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
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.
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.
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?
Yes, but also USB would require a cover, and these cables hold up better to moisture and debris.
There are a few wet / dry shavers with USB C on the market now, and most have some sort of way to protect the port from moisture and debris from shaving.
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..
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 without the usb-c port becoming damaged
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.
Personally I’m not using anything wired in a shower regardless of what it ‘can’ do. All it takes is a break in the insulation that you don’t notice and you’re gonna have a real bad day. For liability reasons I can’t imagine they’d use ‘so you can charge it WHILE in the shower’ as an excuse for not using USB-C anyway. Personally I think the amount of convenience, consumer-friendliness, and waste reduction from non-proprietary chargers is well worth mildly inconveniencing the 6 people who forget to charge it before showering, but I’m not a rich CEO so.
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 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.
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.
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.
I bought this exact model in the picture to replace my older all chrome one. I thought hey Ive been using this since 2018. I swear on my life I've only chared it like 4 times since I had it. I've already charged the new one more times than the old one and have only bad it few months. I would have thought batteries were better now but I guess not . Here's the one I replaced. I still have it thank goodness.
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.
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.
Which was literally explained in the original comment.
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.
There are, and they will usually freak out and get mad if there is water in the charging port, heavily discouraging (or completely preventing) charging until it's dried out again. Which is also probably not ideal for the shavers.
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.
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 think using non-standard plugs is evil in the first place but the reason they're are different is probably because they are completely different manufacturers with Phillips name slapped on them.
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.
I bend the rule for a few things that have a reasonable reason to have a different charger, like electric toothbrushes. The cradle it rests on/plugs into is imo a better and safer charger than an open USBC port. Other waterproof things too like Shokz headphones I'm fine with.
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.
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 want to play devils advocate for this very specific instance.
I have 4 devices in the bathroom that are electronic. 3 are usb-c and the last is my Philips norelco with the bullshit connector that makes even less sense since it’s a barrel connector but 5v input so powered from usb lol.
The only device without even slight corrosion around the connector is my Phillips. Every other device either browns from rust on the outside of the port, or has destroyed the cable which is to be expected in a high-humidity environment.
Their all plastic design keeps the port easy to clean in case gunk gets in, rust free and much harder to break the cable. It’s better than micro-b, but basically even in my eyes to usb c with the others in this room as comparison, and exclusively for bathroom use.
The beef isn’t with the port itself, it’s that the 2 shavers use practically identical chargers but are incompatible because the molding of the port is different. Since it’s 5V USB power anyway there is no reason for Phillips to change the port besides forcing you to buy another proprietary charger. I have a couple Phillips shavers and have this exact issue, 2 different chargers that have no reason to be different
Where do you get the charger by itself? They want you to buy an entirely new unit, while disallowing you from using the old trimmer on the new charger, or vise versa. You might get extended use from the old unit if the new charger is compatible. Planned obselecence.
If the two connector size/arrangements are for different voltage/amperage then I think thats smart, as it keeps you from accidentally frying your device.
If they are the same, then they are just being greedy, and you can just take a knife and modify the end of your connector to fit.
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 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 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
USB-C ports aren’t designed to handle that much moisture/hair/skin so they can corrode easily.
Also Ni-MH is always preferred, because most people put them on the charger all the time, these batteries love to be on charge always, not like lithium.
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.
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 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.
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)
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.
The thing that gets me is they give you a free charger in the mail if you send them a copy of your receipt. IT'S ALREADY FREE PUT THAT SHIT IN THE BOX!!!!!
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...
I bought 5 replacement cables from random 3rd party Amazon sellers trying to buy a replacement charging cable for my 3 year old Norelco razor that initially cost me $80. They changed the model a year after I bought mine and discontinued the cable, so I couldn't get an OEM part. That was a lot of trips to the UPS store for $10 Amazon returns trying to find the right cable. They all said they were compatible, but it took 5 tries before something actually was compatible.
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u/Vladishun 19d 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.