Methods and apparatus are provided for gain and phase compensation in a radio frequency (RF) transmitter (108). The RF transmitter (108) has at least one power amplifier (PA) (205) for providing a transmitted signal having a signal power therefrom. An RF power detector (208) is coupled to the at least one PA (205) for detecting the signal power of the transmitted signal and an analog to digital (A/D) converter (210) is coupled to the RF power detector (208). A hysteresis unit (214) is coupled to the A/D converter (210) for generating a pulse (222) in response to a power threshold being crossed and a load switch control unit (218, 232) is coupled to the hysteresis unit and the at least one power amplifier for providing gain and phase compensation in response to the pulse.