Phillips head screws are pretty standard in the US, but pretty much any other non-slot screw head is technically superior (including at least two other plus shaped drivers I'm aware of).
Most woodworkers I've known prefer a square shaped driver. Unless the costs of the screw significantly impact your margins, Phillips screws suck.
I felt this way through my entire engineering life until I bought a sailboat.
Everything on marine stuff tends to be flat-head or similar design -- engaging a flat driver into a slot in a bumpy/roll-y ocean is hell. The self-centering engagement aspect of a cross-socket style drive is absolutely fantastic after a long day of trying to tighten flat-slot fastened tube-clamps and the like at sea during calm conditions, let alone during weather.
That said -- yes, phillips head sucks, they round out and won't handle any decent amount of torque over repeated sessions without deformation. Robertson (square)/allen/torx kind of suck at sea, because they lack any form of self-centering without using special taper drivers.
In a perfect world I think that I would like to use pozi-driv fasteners and drivers everywhere, but the reality is that there are so many types of specialty hardware in use in the marine-world that it would be difficult -- if not impossible -- to switch it all entirely over.
But I can definitely think of places with slot-heads on deck of the yachts I have been on, which would be a bitch in swell. And stripping a thread would also suck!
Everything on marine stuff tends to be flat-head or similar design
-- engaging a flat driver into a slot in a bumpy/roll-y ocean is
*hell*.
Off topic: the hell of a bumpy/roll-y ocean manually controlled lift crane arm operation is improved by a single rotating supporting pillar with an expandable webb-y forklift mechanism that goes in the water and retrieves the dive vessel with a one button push and Ai selfguiding.
Yes, they are better than flathead screws, which are the second (or maybe third after a combination philips/flathead[1]) most common screw I encounter in daily use.
I wonder if the prevalence of flat head screws has something to do with ease of machinability. I imagine there's a lot of custom or obscure fasteners on boats. A flat head bolt or screw has the benefit of being able to be made with not much more than a lathe.
Most woodworkers I've known prefer a square shaped driver. Unless the costs of the screw significantly impact your margins, Phillips screws suck.