diff --git a/matlab/src/cpp/arrow/matlab/c/proxy/array_importer.cc b/matlab/src/cpp/arrow/matlab/c/proxy/array_importer.cc
index 73ec06dbf03ea..060aa717d06a1 100644
--- a/matlab/src/cpp/arrow/matlab/c/proxy/array_importer.cc
+++ b/matlab/src/cpp/arrow/matlab/c/proxy/array_importer.cc
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ void ArrayImporter::import(libmexclass::proxy::method::Context& context) {
   const auto arrow_array_address = uint64_t(arrow_array_address_mda[0]);
   const auto arrow_schema_address = uint64_t(arrow_schema_address_mda[0]);
 
-  struct ArrowArray* arrow_array =
+  auto arrow_array =
       reinterpret_cast<struct ArrowArray*>(arrow_array_address);
   auto arrow_schema =
       reinterpret_cast<struct ArrowSchema*>(arrow_schema_address);