[0] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/lambda-function-b...
- numbers
- text,
- cell references
- formulae that resolve to one of the above
Allowing a value to be a function would (presumably) allow a cell to contain a function (just the function, not an invocation of a function). I can't imagine that being a simple change, or one introduced without being explicitly in the docs.
Further not every valid excel value (in the sense that you can pass it as a function argument) can be a cell value. For example arrays. Arrays need to spill into multiple cells if they are a result. Similarly, to my knowledge cell references cannot be the result value of a cell, as they would get dereferenced to get their underlying value as part of evaluation. On the other hand they most certainly are something that can be passed to a function without getting dereferenced first.
The name manager allows naming certain values that cannot be a cell result (like arrays), which makes it seem more likely that lambdas are full fledged data types, that could be passed to other lambdas. If I had access to a beta copy of excel, it would be easy to find out by running:
=LET(doubleapply, LAMBDA(x, y, x(x(y))), plusthree, LAMBDA(x, x+3), doubleapply(plusthree,5))
If that works, great lambdas are clearly a new first class data type. If it does not work, then obviously they are some form of second class citizen.