diff --git a/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/_dense_nd_array.py b/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/_dense_nd_array.py
index e370ee1235..6d6087edee 100644
--- a/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/_dense_nd_array.py
+++ b/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/_dense_nd_array.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import warnings
 from typing import List, Sequence, Tuple, Union
 
 import numpy as np
@@ -190,7 +191,7 @@ def read(
                 The coordinates for slicing the array.
             result_order:
                 Order of read results.
-                This can be one of 'row-major', 'col-major', or 'auto'.
+                This can be one of 'row-major' (default) or 'column-major'
             partitions:
                 An optional :class:`ReadPartitions` hint to indicate
                 how results should be organized.
@@ -220,6 +221,15 @@ def read(
         # all, in which case the best we can do is use the schema shape.
         handle: clib.SOMADenseNDArray = self._handle._handle
 
+        if result_order == options.ResultOrder.AUTO:
+            warnings.warn(
+                "The use of 'result_order=\"auto\"' is deprecated and will be "
+                "removed in future versions. Please use 'row-order' (the default "
+                "if no option is provided) or 'col-order' instead.",
+                DeprecationWarning,
+            )
+            result_order = somacore.ResultOrder.ROW_MAJOR
+
         ned = []
         for dim_name in handle.dimension_names:
             dtype = np.dtype(self.schema.field(dim_name).type.to_pandas_dtype())
diff --git a/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/_util.py b/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/_util.py
index 8d0611d5ac..1d1b0c11c8 100644
--- a/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/_util.py
+++ b/apis/python/src/tiledbsoma/_util.py
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ def dense_indices_to_shape(
         dense_index_to_shape(coord, extent)
         for coord, extent in zip_longest(coords, array_shape)
     )
-    if result_order is somacore.ResultOrder.ROW_MAJOR:
+    if result_order == somacore.ResultOrder.ROW_MAJOR:
         return shape
     return tuple(reversed(shape))
 
diff --git a/apis/python/tests/test_dense_nd_array.py b/apis/python/tests/test_dense_nd_array.py
index 17d378c53a..3b62e6b191 100644
--- a/apis/python/tests/test_dense_nd_array.py
+++ b/apis/python/tests/test_dense_nd_array.py
@@ -565,3 +565,20 @@ def test_pass_configs(tmp_path):
                 "sm.io_concurrency_level": "1",
             }
         )
+
+
+def test_read_result_order(tmp_path):
+    uri = tmp_path.as_posix()
+    data = np.arange(0, 8).reshape(4, 2)
+
+    with soma.DenseNDArray.create(uri, type=pa.int8(), shape=(4, 2)) as A:
+        A.write((slice(None), slice(None)), pa.Tensor.from_numpy(data))
+
+    with soma.DenseNDArray.open(uri, mode="r") as A:
+        assert np.array_equal(A.read(), data)
+        assert np.array_equal(A.read(result_order="row-major"), data)
+        assert np.array_equal(A.read(result_order="column-major"), data.T)
+        with pytest.warns(
+            DeprecationWarning, match="The use of 'result_order=\"auto\"' is deprecated"
+        ):
+            assert np.array_equal(A.read(result_order="auto"), data)