A portable telephone apparatus capable of avoiding a troublesome operation for responding to an incoming call is provided. The portable telephone apparatus having a flip-lid includes a radio circuit section for transmitting or receiving a signal to/from a radio base station, a radio control circuit section for controlling the radio circuit section, and a flip-lid state detecting circuit for detecting an opening/closing state of the flip-lid. The radio control circuit section changes a responding method to an incoming call when opening the flip-lid is determined by the flip-lid state detecting circuit.