If you're sitting there staring at these photos, scratching your head, and wondering what exactly is different about this mule from the recently updated 2009 Porsche Boxster, the answer is: just about everything.
Every panel on this Boxster is different in a very subtle manner that's hard to detect unless you know what you're looking for. For example, the entire front end is different, including the headlights and front fascia. The intake gill behind the door is shaped differently and the doors are new. Bottom line: Porsche is clearly following the evolutionary route with the next-generation Boxster as it has with the 911.
Don't expect the next Boxster to come out of the gate with new engines, as Porsche just updated them for the 2009 model. The base Boxster now has a 2.9L flat-six making 255 hp, the S variant a direct-injected 310-hp, 3.4L flat-six. Both are available with Porsche's new PDK dual-clutch gearbox as an option. The engines are likely to carry over -- at least for the first year or two of the new model's lifecycle. There will probably be updates to the interior as well. The 2009 model's new-look center stack should remain relatively intact, but every other bit of interior trim could be replaced.
Don't expect this new Boxster any time soon. To give the current car a long-enough lifespan for the facelift to have been worthwhile, Porsche will likely hold the next-gen car until the 2012 model year, with an auto-show debut sometime in 2011, possibly at Porsche's home show in Frankfurt.