TORONTO — Research In Motion is releasing three new versions of its BlackBerry smartphone simultaneously in the first overhaul of the handsets in a year as the company tries to regain ground against Apple.

RIM is introducing the first touch-screen version of its Bold model, plus an updated Torch slider phone and a new touch-screen-only BlackBerry, all based on RIM’s new BlackBerry 7.0 platform, said Patrick Spence, managing director for global sales and regional marketing.

The three devices will be available from 225 carriers, with some operators starting next week, in the “biggest launch in the history of BlackBerry,” he said in a telephone interview.

RIM is counting on the phones, the first new models since August 2010, to reverse a revenue slowdown that led to RIM’s prediction in June that sales this quarter may drop for the first time in nine years.

All of the new models include pinch-and-zoom browsing and Web-page loading speeds that are 40 percent faster than the old Torch, Spence said.

“We’re taking it a step further by enhancing the browsing experience, which is something we know we had to work on,” he said.

With the addition of what RIM calls liquid graphics that render images faster and make zooming smoother, “it’s an industry-leading experience,” he said.

While the Waterloo, Ontario-based company continues to gain market share in regions like Africa and the Middle East at the expense of Nokia, RIM is losing customers in the United States to Apple’s iPhone and handsets running Google’s Android software. Those devices appealed to consumers with their Web browsing features and a wider selection of applications.

RIM’s share of U.S. smartphone subscribers dropped 4.2 percentage points to 24.7 percent for the three months through May, according to ComScore Inc.

“They’ve definitely narrowed the gap with the competition,” said Will Stofega, a technology analyst at Framingham, Mass.-based IDC, of RIM’s new devices. “Display is definitely crisper and had to be, given what we’ve seen in terms of its competitors.”

The new Bold 9900, first shown at RIM’s BlackBerry World trade show in May, features a larger keyboard and thinner case. The Torch 9810 with slide-out keyboard looks similar to the first edition of the device. The last of the three new phones, the Torch 9850, is RIM’s first touchscreen-only phone since the BlackBerry Storm, which was criticized for software glitches.

The BlackBerry Curve, one of RIM’s most popular models in emerging markets, may soon be available with a touch screen, he said.

The introduction of the new phones comes at a critical time for RIM. Last week, the company said it will cut 2,000 jobs to rein in costs, leaving it with about 17,000 employees.

These phones are set to be the last models that use the BlackBerry operating system as the company shifts to a platform called QNX that is at the heart of RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

With the new BlackBerry 7 phones debuting now, “they’ve quelled a lot of concerns,” said Stofega. “The sooner they get to QNX devices, the better.”

In the same week as the job cuts, RIM introduced a new version of its popular BlackBerry Messenger instant-messaging platform that will let consumers use their own applications with BBM, as it’s known.

BlackBerry 7 is designed to capitalize on the BBM software and offer voice-activated searching, said Andrew Bocking, vice president of BlackBerry Software.

The Torch slider has a 3.2-inch display, the Torch 9850’s screen measures 3.7 inches, and the Bold 9900 has a 2.8-inch screen.

The new phones also feature near-field communications, or NFC capability, that is gradually being adopted as a means of scanning information or making payments by tapping your device against a reader.

Individual carriers will make their own announcements about details on pricing and availability, Bocking said.