Abstract: The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for assessing a capability, for example, linearity of an amplifier, such as that of a power amplifier including a radio frequency amplifier. In one embodiment, the method comprises defining a first figure of merit for a power amplifier based on a loss of linearity relative to a predefined linearity requirement for the power amplifier and/or defining a second figure of merit based on the first figure of merit and dependent upon a minimum frequency within a predefined frequency band for the power amplifier, characterizing the linearity thereof. In this manner, using a test setup, for digital mobile communication networks deploying one or more higher order modulation schemes with complex wireless transmission that results in non-constant envelope signals, linearity of power amplifiers in transceivers, such as a mobile station or a base station, may be sufficiently described.