Everyone should be aware that although they look superficially the same, not all cross-shaped screws (and screwdrivers) are "Phillips" head.
There is a JIS (Japanese) standard and a Phillips standard. They are not identical.
The Phillips system was designed to be deliberately torque-limited ... the screw and driver are designed to "cam out" when the torque limit is exceeded. When used with a Phillips head screw, this causes no damage to the screw normally under hand power ... with a power driver it's of course possible.
The profile of the two screws and drivers are different, with the Phillips having the deeper centre (or, a "pointy-er" tip on the screwdriver). The JIS driver will be flat on the tip, 57 degree taper to the wings.
The JIS screw is not designed to cam out when over-torqued. What happens, then, is the Phillips driver does not seat deep enough in the screw to fully engage the cross, and when it inevitably cams out under torque as it's supposed to do (loosening or tightening the screw) it damages the JIS screw.
JIS drivers work fine in Phillips screws but not vice-versa.You can usually identify a JIS screw by either a dot or a X marked on the screw head. Cheap Chinese screws may not be so marked, however.
For anyone working on electronics, the correct JIS drivers are a must, otherwise you will find yourself committing to a lifetime of damaged or difficult to remove/reinsert screws. Proper JIS mini-driver sets are available from electronics resellers; they will be long enough usually to deal with recessed screws found in electronics sourced from Asia.
Hardware store sets are suspect (and computer stores might run the gamut); they are often short shank and often do not have decent hardened tips. Proper JIS drivers come in 100mm and 150mm shank lengths (about 4 and 6 inches). There are 4 bit sizes numbered 1~4.
There is an "S" type driver, which is short like the set in the photo above, but since a proper JIS set isn't cheap ($20~50), I'd go for the longer ones instead, to save frustration.
