Abstract: A power amplifier system uses upstream signal information of a signal to be amplified by an amplifier to control the operation of the amplifier, thereby enabling the amplifier to operate more efficiently overall. The power amplifier system can reconfigure the amplifier based on upstream signal information, such as the measured peak power, the measured average power, the number of users, the type of carriers (CDMA, TDMA, FDMA), the number of carriers and/or the average power per carrier. For example, based on upstream signal information for the signal to be amplified, processing circuitry can reconfigure the power amplifier architecture to adjust the peak power handling capability of the amplifier. By reducing the peak power handling capability of the amplifier, the long-term efficiency of the amplifier can be improved.