A low-power diversity receiver includes at least two receive paths, each of which is designated as a primary or secondary receive path. A primary receive path is compliant with system requirements (e.g., IS-98D requirements). A secondary receive path is not fully compliant with the system requirements and is designed for lower power, less area, and lower cost than the primary receive path. For a multi-antenna receiver, the two receive paths may be used to simultaneously process two received signals from two antennas. For a single-antenna receiver, either the primary or secondary receive path is selected, e.g., depending on whether or not large amplitude “jammers” are detected, to process a single input signal from one antenna. The receiver may include additional receive paths for additional frequency bands and/or GPS.