The most common term here is "portable", or "téléphone portable", or just "téléphone". "Portable" means what you think it means: you can carry it. Sometimes,

The most common term here is "portable", or "téléphone portable", or just "téléphone". "Portable" means what you think it means: you can carry it. Sometimes, (especially in the commercials), we see "mobile" instead of "portable". It also means what you think it means: you can move it. I think one reason behind the word "mobile" is because "ordinateur portable" (or "portable" for short) is already used to talk about laptops. Destkops are in rare cases called "ordinateur de bureau". Generally, we just say "PC" —unless it's from Apple. I am not aware of what the Académie Française may or may not have decided. What I love about the English language here, is that we have 3 words that neatly apply to the three form factors: desktop, laptop, and palmtop. It's a bit of a bummer we can't exploit such regularity in French. If I had to settle on a term, I'd probably try "ordinateur mobile", or "mobile" for short. Unlike "palmtop", it wouldn't scream "computer", so the best I can hope for is that we just stop using "téléphone" to describe those things.