They are currently replacing the screen on my Macbook Pro 16″ (Dec 2020). In the invoice, I see a Lid Angle Sensor listed for replacement. It really surprised me. It turns out that this sensor, which precisely measures the angle of the laptop’s lid, is a recent addition, only found in 16″ Macs. Previously, there was just a standard magnetic field sensor (Hall sensor) for the lid, but now, for some reason, they’ve introduced a more advanced sensor. It leaves one only to guess why. For instance, it could be used in image processing algorithms of the built-in camera. Or maybe it’s for future-proofing, to better integrate FaceID (which, for some reason I don’t understand, is still not included in laptops). Or maybe they just collect usage logs of the lid to better understand the causes of wear issues with various cables and the lid overall.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 