Troubled device vendor HTC unveiled the smartphone it hopes will boost its success for the closing part of 2015, in the shape of its One A9.

The company had previously revealed it intended to debut a new device for the latter part of the year, to give it a fresh figurehead as the One M9 announced at Mobile World Congress in February loses its lustre.

And, with HTC’s results showing the company is having little success in turning around its waning fortunes, the device will be especially important for the smartphone pioneer (in a statement, it claimed to be behind the first Android smartphone, the first Windows smartphone, the first 4G smartphone and the first all-metal smartphone).

The device shares more than a passing resemblance to Apple’s latest iPhone line, although the vendor described it as “an evolution of the iconic HTC One family design”. Devices are said to have a “dual finish”, available in carbon grey, opal silver, topaz gold and deep garnet.

HTC has continued with the camera configuration used in One M9, with a traditional main camera paired with a front-facing ultrapixel sensor, intended to improve low-light performance. The rear camera in the One A9 is a 13MP unit with optical image stabilisation.

It also includes HTC’s BoomSound technology alongside Dolby Audio surround sound, “delivering immersive, vibrant sound that matches a live experience in your headphones”.

The device is powered by Android 6.0 Marshmallow and, while it also includes HTC’s Sense customisations, in this case it is apparently a relatively light variation from the stock platform.

Among the other features cited were a multidirectional fingerprint scanner and Android Pay support.

It has a 5-inch full HD screen, and is powered by a 64-bit octacore Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 processor – HTC used a Snapdragon 810 chip in the earlier One M9, which was the source of some criticism. It will be available in 16GB and 32GB configurations, with expansion slot.

Current US pricing – described as a “limited time promotional price” – is $399 off contract. Availability is slated for November.