Verizon is engaging in a broad-based summer smartphone sale as the company has slashed the prices of many of its smartphones by $US100.

The discounted smartphones include some of the company's premiere devices, such as the BlackBerry Storm, the BlackBerry Tour and the Samsung Saga. The company has cut the prices of five of its available BlackBerry device models by $US100, with the BlackBerry Curve getting its price cut to $US49.99.

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The price cuts mean that the majority of Verizon's smartphones are now being sold for less than $US100. While the BlackBerry Tour is still being sold for $US149.99 after its $US100 price cut, the BlackBerry Storm, the HTC Touch Diamond, the HTC Touch Pro and the Samsung Omnia are all being sold for $US99.99 each.

Verizon is giving no reasons for its smartphone sale, but the Boy Genius Report that this means the company is preparing to launch new smartphones onto the market. In particular, the BGR speculates that the HTC TouchPro2 will be hitting stores soon and the BlackBerry Storm 2 will be released a little later this year.

Verizon's decision to cut its smartphone prices may also be in response to the aggressive pricing of Apple's iPhone, which earlier this summer was reduced to $US99 for an 8GB 3G model. Apple and AT&T have been progressively cutting the price of the iPhone to help drive adoption, as last year the companies decided to drop the 8GB device's price from $US299 to $US199.