DirectX 12 Coming from Microsoft on March 20th

Microsoft is set to announce the next version of its graphics API DirectX, dubbed as DirectX 12 on March 20th at the Game Developer Conference.

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The newer version of the API is expected to give lower-level access to hardware, a move that has been done to take on AMD’s Mantle API. The access would allow developers to siphon the last bit of performance from the hardware. Although being new in the town, it might not yet be as refined as the Mantle API.
With Microsoft’s decision to roll out DirectX updates only along Windows updates, we might not see the new API in action for some time. By some time, we mean until Windows 9 is released. We’ll also see the new API in future versions of Windows Phone. The company has teamed up with Intel, Qualcomm, Nvidia and, yes, AMD as partners on the new API, so we will soon see it on everything including smartphones, PCs and tablets.
Source: engadget