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A plug adapter changes the shape of the pins. A voltage converter changes the electricity. Confusing them is how a dual-voltage laptop charger is fine in Paris and a 120-volt hair dryer is not.
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The argumentA travel adapter is a piece of plastic that maps one plug shape onto another and passes the wall's voltage through unchanged. A voltage converter (or transformer) changes that voltage. Almost every modern phone, laptop, tablet, and camera charger is dual-voltage (INPUT 100-240V) and needs only an adapter; heating appliances that list a single voltage, typically 120V, will take whatever the wall supplies if you only change the plug, which in much of the world is about 230V.
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